By Bill Hanna
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
May 31, 2008
http://www.star-telegram.com/national_news/story/673170.html
SAN ANGELO -- A state district judge who had been ordered by two higher courts to send children from a polygamist sect back home refused Friday to sign an order that would have started the process of reuniting them with their parents.
The judge's unexpected move came after four hours of legal wrangling where it appeared some of the children from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) would be going home as early as Monday.
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| FLDS elder Willie Jessop leaves the Tom Green County Courthouse on Friday. Photo by S-T / Khampha Bouaphanh |
Attorneys left the courtroom scratching their heads over Judge Barbara Walther's abrupt end of the hearing.
The sticking points centered on restrictions Walther added to an order that had been agreed upon among attorneys for Child Protective Services, the parents and the children.
Instead, Walther added additional restrictions, including restricting the parents' movements and giving CPS 24-hour access to the Yearning for Zion Ranch near Eldorado, where more than 400 children were taken from after an April 3 raid.
The Third Court of Appeals ruled last week that the agency had overstepped its authority by removing all of the children from the compound. On Thursday, the Texas Supreme Court agreed with that decision and ordered the CPS to return the children to their homes.
Julie Balovich, an attorney for Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid, said via a conference call in the courtroom that the Third Court of Appeals' ruling to return 124 children found that the state presented no evidence of sexual abuse. Therefore, Walther could not impose additional restrictions, other than the ones agreed upon by the attorneys.
"I will take a look at the order and see if I can sign it," Walther said before declaring a recess.
When she returned, Walther said she would only agree to sign it if all 38 mothers involved in the lawsuit also signed it.
"If you provide me with an order signed by all of your clients, I will sign it," Walther said before leaving the bench.
Roughly a minute later, as baffled attorneys discussed her decision, a bailiff ordered everyone to vacate the courtroom.
Lawyers said that it would be difficult to obtain the mothers' signatures quickly because the parents are scattered across the state in towns where CPS has relocated the children in foster homes.
"Some of these lawyers have clients in Amarillo and in Waco," said Dallas attorney Laura Shockley. "You could spend days driving all over the state trying to reach all of your clients."
Both Shockley and Austin attorney Andrea Sloan, who both represent children in the case, predicted another writ of mandamus would be filed with the Third Court of Appeals in Austin on Monday.
"There will be writs filed to make her vacate her order," Shockley said. "But the soonest we can file anything in court will be Monday."
The Department of Family and Protective Services, the agency that oversees CPS, issued a statement Friday night saying it would comply with the judge's demand.
"DFPS has worked with the attorneys for the children and parents' attorneys on a plan for reunifications that was presented to the court," the statement said. "Today, Judge Walther asked that we continue to finalize this plan together to ensure the prompt and orderly return of the children."
Willie Jessop, an FLDS elder, expressed frustration at the unexpected delay.
"There was an opportunity for relief and it was not granted," Jessop said.
That sentiment was a far cry from the optimistic mood of the mothers and their lawyers when it appeared almost all of the 430 children would be heading home quickly.
Earlier in the hearing, Walther had indicated a willingness to allow the children to be reunited with their parents as soon as possible.
In the agreement between CPS and the mothers' lawyers, the parents would have been allowed to start picking up their children at 8 a.m. Monday. CPS lawyers indicated that they had worked to put a plan in place to allow parents to retrieve their children as long as they showed identification, consented to photos of them and their children and provided an address where they would be living. They would also have to consent to parenting classes and agree not leave the state.
Though the Supreme Court's order technically only affected 124 children, Walther indicated that it would be extended to almost all of them unless there were a specific reason for a child to be kept in state custody.
"I see no reason for a distinction," Walther said
It is believed that there are several teen-age girls who are either pregnant or have children who might be excluded from the ruling.
Friday's court hearing was a stark reversal from the raid April 3, when CPS removed every child from the 1,691-acre ranch near Eldorado. CPS had argued that every child was vulnerable to abuse inside the ranch.
But the return of the children won't end the state's investigation of the FLDS.
Texas Department of Public Safety spokesman Tom Vinger said Friday that a criminal investigation is ongoing.
Bill Hanna, 817-390-7698
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