FLDS updates--things that make you go hmmm

AAS 5/16/08
Raid, aftermath's early cost: $7.5 million
Senate panel to examine expenses of largest child removal in U.S.

The massive child welfare operation that began in early April with a state raid of a West Texas ranch owned by a polygamous sect cost nearly $7.5 million in the first 19 days, according to records from Gov. Rick Perry's office.

A spokeswoman for Perry cautioned that the numbers — obtained through the Texas Public Information Act — are preliminary and unaudited, and Perry's office has yet to release official costs.

But the numbers do reveal clues about the financial impact of what Texas officials have said is the largest removal of children in U.S. history.

Expenses have ranged from housing and feeding more than 400 children in shelters in San Angelo to busing them to foster care around the state. And the costs are likely to grow; it could be a year before Child Protective Services and the courts sort out whether the children — removed because of what state officials say is a pattern of abuse — can return to their parents.