Kingston teenager faces hearing after departing facility

The 15-year-old son of polygamist John Daniel Kingston and Heidi Mattingly Foster faces a juvenile detention hearing today after walking away from a treatment center on Saturday.

The teen turned up Thursday at the home of his mother. Mattingly Foster, who learned Tuesday her son had disappeared, said she contacted the boy’s caseworker and brought her son to meet with him. Police then arrived and took the teen into custody.

The boy had been at Valley Mental Health’s Adolescent Residential Treatment and Education Center (ARTEC) since Oct. 19, 2004, when the state removed him and seven siblings from Mattingly Foster’s home.

Third District Juvenile Court Judge Andrew Valdez had ruled the couple were being uncooperative in an ongoing investigation into whether the children were being neglected or physically abused by their parents.

In October, the other children were placed in foster homes. The teen was placed at ARTEC – designed to house juveniles who have serious emotional,   behavioral or substance-abuse problems – after Valdez deemed him a flight risk.

The boy was moved from the agency’s Midvale unit to a less-secure facility in Kearns on March 3, according to his mother. Mattingly Foster had not seen her son since Feb. 8, when Valdez cut off her supervised visits with her children.

She said her son asked her to pass copies of letters he had written to The Salt Lake Tribune and other media. In the letters, one of which is addressed to Valdez, the boy said he fled because he feared being physically attacked by another teen. He said he would return to ARTEC after getting the letters distributed.

The boy also recounts threats from other teens and says he is being pressured by state workers to renounce his parents.

He says he has never engaged in any wrongdoing and simply wants “to go home with my mom and dad and my brothers and sisters more than anything in the whole world.”

The protracted child welfare   case began in February 2004 after a dispute between the couple and their two oldest daughters over ear piercing. Those girls were removed from the home, and the state subsequently alleged the couple were neglectful and physically disciplined their other children. Mattingly Foster still has custody of an 8-month-old girl.

Attempts to reach Guardian ad Litem Kristin Brewer, the boy’s state-appointed attorney, were unsuccessful Thursday night.

Read Another Article

Jehovah’s Witnesses Granted Legal Status in Germany
Profile: Rowan Williams

Related News Articles Topic(s): Polygamy Subscribe to Religion News Blog updates Subscribe to Religion News Blog [What is this?] Get Religion News Blog's headline by Email [What is this?] Follow Religion News Blog at Twitter Find Related Information Use our custom search engines to find additional research resources on religions and cults: ApologeticsSearch.com: Search for apologetics articles, books, videos, and other research resources across 135 Christian apologetics websites and blogs. CounterCultSearch.com: Search for information about (religious) cults, cult-like organizations, and cults experts -- as well as paranormal-, New Age, and pseudoscientific claims -- across 260+ websites, blogs and forums dedicated to cult research, spiritual abuse, ex-cult counseling & support. Find Related Religion & Spirituality Books at Amazon.com Polygamy Possibly related... or Most Popular Religion News Articles Kent Hovind: Evangelist arrested on federal charges Beast’s real mark devalued to ’616′ Muslim Woman Gives Sex Advice on Arab TV Michael Jackson Confirms Conversion to Islam Kent Hovind, ‘Dr. Dino,’ guilty on all counts The fall and rise of Carlton Pearson Search False prophet Harold Camping sets another date for rapture: May 21, 2011 Watch the film Theo van Gogh was murdered for Kent Hovind — Dr. Dino — sentenced to 10 years in prison

Search Religion News Blog