BishopAccountability.org
	Kids in Polygamous Sect to Stay in State's Custody for Now By Bill Hanna Fort Worth Star-Telegram April 19, 2008 http://www.star-telegram.com/804/story/591986.html SAN ANGELO -- A district judge ruled Friday that the state will keep temporary custody of 416 children removed from a polygamous sect's West Texas compound. As part of the ruling, District Judge Barbara Walther ordered that all of the children and adults from the YFZ (Yearning for Zion) Ranch in Eldorado must undergo paternity testing on Monday and Tuesday. A mobile lab will be set up Monday in San Angelo, where the children are being temporarily held, and at the Schleicher County Courthouse in Eldorado on Tuesday A child welfare official said Saturday that adult mothers who have been allowed to stay with their young children since they were taken from the compound April 3 will be separated from them after the DNA sampling is completed next week. Child welfare officials allowed adult mothers with children ages 4 and younger to stay together when the state took custody of the rest of the children from the ranch. Now, only mothers younger than 18 will be allowed to remain with their children once the sampling is complete. The welfare agency will also try to keep siblings together, Child Protective Services spokesman Darrell Azar told The Associated Press. The children, who were removed from their families after the April 3 raid on the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) compound, have been kept in the San Angelo area for nearly two weeks. They will likely be moved to other locations across the state after Walther signs custody orders Monday. The judge cautioned the parents of the children that their custody cases are likely to be lengthy. "This is but the beginning," Walther said after her 7:30 p.m. ruling Friday. During the often-chaotic two-day hearing, state officials said it was difficult to establish parent-child relationships within the sect. The FLDS followers walked out of the Tom Green County Courthouse in silence. Rod Parker, the Salt Lake City attorney who represents the FLDS, blasted the ruling. "I think it's shocking and disturbing that a judge will take away 416 children from their parents on allegations concerning their religious beliefs," Parker said. "These children are not in any immediate danger. There was nothing that warranted what happened today. What the state had done has traumatized these children. These poor children should be home with their mothers while all of this is worked out." Another attorney, Tim Edwards, who represented four of the mothers, said the women were disappointed by the decision but would respect the judge's ruling. Under the order, custody hearings must be conducted again by June 5. Walther said she would not attempt another mass hearing. Child Protective Services spokeswoman Marleigh Meisner said the judge's decision will allow welfare workers to begin planning for the psychological and medical needs of the children. No decisions have been made about where to place the children. In Friday's testimony, child psychiatrist Bruce Perry said many of the children might have difficulty in a traditional foster home. "I think the traditional foster care system would be devastating for these kids," Perry said. "I think the children's families should be reviewed on an individual basis with specific individual plans." Meisner indicated that CPS officials would take those recommendations into consideration as the agency confronts the logistical challenges of dealing with so many new custody cases at one time. Twenty-seven boys have already been relocated to the Cal Farley Boys Ranch outside Amarillo. The remaining children are being kept in the Tom Green Coliseum and Wells Fargo Pavilion in San Angelo. Meisner said CPS officials are aware that experts have said the children may not respond well to traditional foster homes, so state officials will explore other options. "This is a situation involving the physical and sexual abuse of children," Meisner said. "This is not about religion or religious persecution; it's about the children." Meisner also said that even if there are questions about the phone calls that triggered the April 3 raid on the compound, CPS caseworkers found enough evidence of underage pregnancies and underage marriages to warrant taking all of the children into custody. The Texas Rangers have named a woman arrested in Colorado as "a person of interest" and are investigating her in connection with the series of phone calls to a San Angelo crisis hot line on March 28. Parker, the FLDS attorney, blasted Texas Department of Public Safety officials for conducting the raid without verifying whether the calls from a 16-year-old girl were legitimate. "The state failed to corroborate in any way and chose to go into the ranch with tanks," Parker said. "I don't know what kind of world we live in." Parker said that FLDS members haven't made decisions about their next move but that "we're going to fight and we're going to fight hard." During Friday's lengthy testimony, Perry, the child psychiatrist, testified that the environment at the YFZ Ranch encourages the sexual assault of young girls. Perry said it will be difficult to break the cycle because it is ingrained in the sect's culture. "Part of what they do is very destructive," said Perry, who added that it would be difficult to recommend an ideal solution for the children. "This is just a lose-lose deal. There is no great way to make this deal come out," he said. During the hearing, several mothers were called by their attorneys to plead for the return of their children. Lucille Nielsen admitted to being in a spiritual marriage with her husband and two other wives. She said the husband, three wives and seven children all live under one roof. Nielsen said she did not know of any underage marriages or teenage girls who were pregnant. Lori Jessop, 25, testified that she came and went freely from the compound and had received emergency medical technician training. Jessop said she heard about pregnant girls at the ranch but had not seen any of them. All of the mothers said they were willing to move out of the compound and live under CPS supervision if it would help them get their children back. Many lawyers for the parents and children argued that the state had not demonstrated any specific signs of abuse on the children they represented. Some argued their clients didn't really get their 14-day hearing as required by law. Walther advised those lawyers to urge Texas legislators to amend the 14-day law to allow some flexibility for large cases like the one involving the FLDS. CPS investigator Angie Voss said there were more than 20 young women that were either pregnant or had young children. She said authorities had verified that five were "certain adolescents" and that she had just learned of two young mothers who were pregnant again. "This is culture of young women being pregnant by older men," Voss said. No arrests for child abuse have been made in the case. Before the raid, an arrest warrant was issued for Dale Barlow, 50, who is living in Colorado City, Ariz. He has been interviewed by investigators but not arrested. Until this week's developments that the crisis hot line phone calls might have been a hoax, authorities had maintained the 16-year-old girl was real and still said Friday that there were several girls among the children that matched her description. The FLDS splintered from the Mormon Church when the latter rejected polygamy in 1890. Most of the FLDS church's estimated 10,000 members live in the twin towns of Colorado City, Ariz., and Hildale, Utah. The group's prophet and leader, Warren Jeffs, has been sentenced to two terms of five years to life in prison in Utah for forcing an underage girl to marry an older cousin.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.