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	Parents Seek Ottawa's Help Daughter Is Among Children in Custody after Raid on Compound in Texas By Robert Matas Globe and Mail (Canada) May 5, 2008 http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080505.POLYGAMY05/TPStory/National SAN ANGELO, TEX. — The federal government should intervene to speed up the return to Canada of a 17-year-old girl who was apprehended during a raid of the Yearning For Zion polygamist compound in Texas, the parents' lawyer says. The Canadian teenager was among 463 children under 18 years old who were taken into custody during a raid of the isolated compound run by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, 523 kilometres southwest of Dallas. Texas authorities said they found underaged children who were pregnant and some who already had their own children. They alleged that the evidence indicated sexual abuse and a pervasive pattern of grooming young girls for underage sex. The girl's parents told their lawyer that their daughter had come to the YFZ compound from the Canadian FLDS community of Bountiful, B.C., a few weeks before the April 3 raid, to visit her grandmother. Former FLDS members say young FLDS girls are brought as child brides from Canada to the U.S. and assigned to be "celestial wives" of older men. They accuse the church of trafficking women across the Canada-U.S. border for sexual purposes. Stephanie Goodman, a Texas lawyer retained by the parents who lived in Bountiful, said she had expected the Canadian consul would try to expedite the girl's return to Canada. The Canadian girl was placed by court order in a foster care facility for abused children. Ms. Goodman said the parents had not been allowed access to their daughter. Also, child protection officials and the child's lawyer were not returning Ms. Goodman's phone calls. She hoped Canadian officials would contact Texas Attorney-General Greg Abbott or possibly Texas Governor Rick Perry in order to "open up the process," she said. But the Canadian girl did not receive any special consideration because she was a foreigner. The Globe and Mail is not publishing the girl's name in order to protect the identity of a minor who is in foster care. Eugenie Cormier-Lassonde, a spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs in Ottawa, said in an interview the government, for privacy reasons, could not release any information about a specific case. The federal government announced on April 25 that a Canadian was among those found at the YFZ ranch, but did not release any further details. The announcement stated that consular officials were "actively monitoring the situation" and were "in constant contact" with Texas child protection officials to offer assistance to Canadians. Consular officials had made contact with the lawyer representing the Canadian and assistance was being provided, the government announcement said. However, the well-being of Canadian children in the U.S. would be the responsibility of the Texas agency, with the Foreign Affairs Department working with the agency to provide assistance. The girl's lawyer did not respond to a phone message from The Globe and Mail requesting an interview. Rod Parker, a lawyer for the FLDS, has questioned whether Texas authorities could substantiate their allegations. He has disputed the ages of the children stated by Texas child protection officials. The teenager's parents say their daughter was not married or pregnant and did not have any children, Ms. Goodman said. Texas authorities have not mentioned that the girl was at the Yearning For Zion ranch for an assigned marriage, she added in a later interview. "But they really haven't said very much to me or any other lawyer representing the parents," Ms. Goodman said. "I am having difficulty just getting a CPS representative to call me back and give me accurate [file] numbers for my cases." She questioned whether a former FLDS member would know whether the girl was at the ranch for an arranged marriage unless they had left the ranch shortly before the raid. "It all sounds very speculative to me," she said. The children were placed in temporary foster care during a two-day hearing on April 17 and 18 at the Tom Green County Courthouse in San Angelo, Tex., about an hour's drive from the FLDS compound. Under Texas law, authorities have 60 days to decide what will happen to the children. The court also ordered DNA testing for all children to identify their parents. Ms. Goodman said the girl's parents were willing to provide DNA samples at their own expense to compare to their daughter's. The parents came from Bountiful to the San Angelo courthouse for the April hearing. However, they were not allowed to speak to their daughter. Ms. Goodman said that she has been told the mother spoke to her daughter on the phone from Bountiful for the first time late last week, more than three weeks after the girl had been apprehended. Child Protective Services indicated they may be willing to let the Canadian go home if they could obtain a valid copy of the girl's birth certificate, the lawyer also said.
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