Don't think Texas is all that different from most states in this regard, micro ... in Texas, you can be legally married either by: (1) obtaining a marriage license and having a judge or a licensed or ordained minister officiate the ceremony, or (2) without a license and an official ceremony via "common law" (be 18 or older; agree to be married; live together as husband and wife; and hold yourselves out to others as being married).
Also ... not that the Texas CPS doesn't need to be strictly monitored for abusing its authority from time to time ... but, I do not believe Texas CPS is the only state child welfare agency that has incidents of rogue agents overstepping their authority in unfairly dealing with families. There are always going to be highly charged questions of right and wrong whenever the state decides to step in and break up a family unit. Sometimes, those actions are pretty easy to agree with, and other times ... well, not so much. The state and its agencies need to get hammered hard by the people whenever and however their actions are egregiously unwarranted.
The essential American soul is hard, isolate, stoic, and a killer. It has never yet melted. ~ D.H. Lawrence |
| 