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	Questions Raised about Why Girl Was in Texas Compound By Robert Matas Globe and Mail (Canada) May 19, 2008 http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080519.POLYGAMY19/TPStory/National It has been more than six weeks since Texas authorities took a Canadian girl into custody during a raid of the isolated compound of the polygamist Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. However, child-protection workers are still trying to figure out how old she is as well as verifying her citizenship. Questions are also being raised about why she was inTexas. A former church member familiar with the Canadian family has speculated the girl may have been at the compound in Eldorado, Tex., for up to two years, and may have been in a so-called celestial marriage with an older church member. The Canadian girl was among more than 460 youngsters under 18 who were found at the compound during a raid sparked by a call to a crisis centre from a girl who said she was a pregnant 16-year-old in an abusive relationship and required help to escape. Child-protection workers did not find her, but they discovered underage mothers and pregnant, underage teens. The evidence of sexual abuse and a pervasive pattern of grooming young women for underage sex indicated an unsafe environment for children, authorities said. Court orders placed the minors in temporary foster care across the state. Child-protection workers have had trouble obtaining information about many of the children in the polygamous community. The women on the ranch initially gave multiple names and ages for themselves and their children. The children could not clear up the confusion. Many of them identified several different women as their mothers. The children thought all the women in their home were their mothers and all the children were their siblings. Two Canadians who said they were parents of a Canadian girl at the compound went to Texas from the polygamist FLDS community in Bountiful, B.C., shortly after their daughter was apprehended. They told authorities their daughter was 17 and had gone to Texas a few weeks earlier to visit her grandmother. They wanted to take her home. The Department of Families and Protective Services in Texas has refused to release personal information about the girl. However, the department indicated in a document filed in a Texas court last week that she is "approximately 16." Her citizenship also remains uncertain. Tom Christensen, B.C.'s Minister of Children and Family Development, said his ministry is prepared to help once her citizenship is verified. Ministry officials do not have authority over a child outside the province, he said. However, officials are working with Texas authorities to ensure that help is available if they decide it is appropriate for this child to return to British Columbia, he said. Debbie Palmer, who has compiled genealogical maps of families in the B.C. polygamous community, said the Canadian family of the girl apprehended in Texas has close ties with the polygamous community in the state. The girl's father was part of a crew that built 21,000-square-foot homes for polygamist families inside the Texas compound. Her brothers run a company that specializes in rapid construction of a style of home in the compound. But the girl could not have been in Texas to visit her grandmother, Ms. Palmer said. "There is no grandmother in Texas." The teenager's maternal grandmother lives in Alberta; her paternal grand- mother is in B.C., Ms. Palmer said. Ms. Palmer also questioned whether the girl was at the Texas compound for only a few weeks. She said she has heard the teen had been in Texas for significantly longer. In response to a recent phone call to the home of the girl's parents in Bountiful, a woman who did not identify herself said the girl's father and mother did not want to speak to the news media. She then hung up. The Globe and Mail has not published the name of the teen to protect the privacy of a minor in foster care. A Texas court is to review services provided to her while in care at a hearing June 4. Court hearings for each of the children begin today.
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