Eldorado, Texas case of FLDS Sect

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Marina
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Postby Marina » Tue May 27, 2008 3:25 pm

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http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,5143,700229450,00.html

Texas makes deal with FLDS couple
By Ben Winslow
Deseret News
Published: Tuesday, May 27, 2008 3:40 p.m. MDT

SAN ANGELO, Texas — A deal has been struck involving an infant caught up in the raid on the Fundamentalist LDS Church's YFZ Ranch.
"I understand y'all have reached a tentative agreement," Judge Barbara Walther said today after a 2 1/2-hour delay, so lawyers could negotiate behind closed doors.

The deal gives the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services sole conservatorship over the baby, born two weeks ago to Dan Jessop and his wife, Louisa Bradshaw (Jessop). It names the parents as temporary possessors.

"I feel good about it," Dan Jessop said as he walked out of the courtroom. "It's one step closer to my family being together."

Bradshaw will stay in a San Antonio shelter with her baby. Her two other children, a 3-year-old girl and a 2-year-old boy, will be moved from a foster care facility in Austin to join her. The deal is also pending a decision by the Texas Supreme Court about what to do with hundreds of other children in state custody.

Today's hearing would have called numerous child witnesses, attorneys said, including a 13-year-old girl whom Texas Child Protective Services suggested last week was a child bride of FLDS leader Warren Jeffs. The girl is a sister of Dan Jessop.


Jessop's attorney, Pat Matassarin, said the agreement was reached in a "collective effort." She had filed a motion to continue the hearing when she learned that the witnesses were going to testify and CPS lawyers had come to court with documents several inches thick — but she had no idea what they would be talking about.
"The only thing they're supposed to be addressing is the physical well-being of the baby," Matassarin said. "Not 13-year-olds, not 15-year-olds, none of that."

Matassarin was referring to photographs introduced into evidence last week that showed a 12-year-old girl kissing Jeffs in a manner that lawyers for CPS described as "how a husband kisses a wife."

Rod Parker, a Salt Lake City attorney acting as a spokesman for the FLDS Church, accused Texas child welfare authorities of engaging in a "publicity stunt" with courtroom evidence.

"They have nothing to do with this family," he said. "It's just an effort by CPS to get publicity for their larger intent to paint everybody with this same brush. These photos have no tie to this particular family in a way that's relevant to these proceedings."

In a copy of the agreement obtained by the Deseret News, a handwritten finding initialed by everyone involved in the case, revealed that the girl in the photos kissing Jeffs lived in the same house as Dan and Louisa Jessop.

On the witness stand Friday, Bradshaw struggled to name anyone who lived in the house with her, except for her husband and children.

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This morning, two pieces of evidence were entered into court. Texas CPS attorney Ellen Griffith told the judge one was a marriage record dated July 2006 and another dated December 2003. The 2006 record immediately was sealed by the judge after a request by an attorney representing the girl in the photograph.
The 2003 record is presumed to be Dan and Louisa Jessop's marriage record.

Baby Richard Jessop was born while his mother was in state custody. CPS workers considered Bradshaw a "disputed minor." After the baby's birth, however, CPS declared her an adult (she is 22) and sought to have the child placed in state custody along with more than 450 other FLDS children caught up in the raid.

Texas child welfare authorities have been making a case that the YFZ Ranch is one household and that children at the sprawling Eldorado property are at risk, with girls growing up to be child brides and boys growing up to be sexual perpetrators.

While he considers it a partial victory, Jessop said he isn't sure when his children will actually be reunited with their mother.

"We're trying to have faith in the government," he said. "It's pretty rough right now. We're working hard at it. I think CPS did a good move today."

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Postby Marina » Wed May 28, 2008 3:54 am

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http://www.khou.com/news/local/stories/ ... 0.html?npc

Texas man helping polygamists fight CPS

10:57 AM CDT on Monday, May 26, 2008

By Kevin Peters / 11 News


More Video HOUSTON—A Texas man has joined the fight to return hundreds of polygamist children to their parents at a West Texas compound.

Gary Gates, founder of the Texas Center for Family Rights, says he’s helping the polygamists because he knows what it’s like to lose kids.

Gates is a father of 13. Eight years ago, he disciplined one of his sons by pinning empty snack bags on his T-shirt because the boy helped himself to too many.

When the boy got to school, someone called CPS, and all of Gates’ kids were taken into state custody.

A judge overruled the decision just three days later, but the event left a lasting impression.


“That was the first I knew that something like that could happen in America. I was totally oblivious. I couldn’t believe it,” Gates said. “It opened my eyes to a side of government that I didn’t know existed.”

That’s when he formed the Texas Center for Family Rights. The organization lobbies lawmakers to diminish CPS’ power.

Gates spent two days last week at the Yearning for Zion Ranch. He said he doesn’t believe it’s a haven for abuse.

“It is a wrong perception to think this is somehow someplace with pedophiles and sexual abuse. What you see is hard-working people who have a different belief than most of us,” he said.

He says that belief system is misunderstood.

“They believe in having children. They believe it’s a blessing from God. And CPS is really trying to twist that into something disgusting,” Gates said.

Gates is helping the polygamist parents challenge the state in court, but he maintains that if a crime was committed at the compound, it should be prosecuted.

Still, he says he holds little faith or trust in an agency that he believes wrongfully divided his own family eight years ago.

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Marina
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Postby Marina » Wed May 28, 2008 3:17 pm

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http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,5143,700229807,00.html

Texas Supreme Court seeks more info before ruling in FLDS case

By Ben Winslow
Deseret News
Published: Wednesday, May 28, 2008 3:09 p.m. MDT

SAN ANGELO, Texas —The Supreme Court wants more information from parents' attorneys before making a decision about the fate of more than a hundred children taken into state custody in the raid on the Fundamentalist LDS Church's YFZ Ranch.
In an e-mail, a court spokesman said the Texas Supreme Court requested a response to the state's petition by 9 a.m. Thursday. It also requested a response to a companion case. The state filed an appeal on the case with the high court today.

The Texas Supreme Court has remained silent ever since the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services appealed a ruling by Austin's Third Court of Appeals, which ruled the agency improperly removed the children from the FLDS property during an April raid.

Texas child welfare authorities filed an appeal and a request for an emergency stay on a companion case that mirrors the one filed with the appellate court by 38 mothers. The case involves mothers Louisa Bradshaw, Gladys Mae Jessop and Marie Steed.

Dovetailing on the legal filing by the Texas RioGrande Legal Aid Society, lawyers for Bradshaw, Jessop and Steed filed their own writ of mandamus, seeking to have their children returned. When the Austin appellate court ruled, it also granted the request by the three mothers' attorneys, Legal Aid of Northwest Texas.


"When the court granted theirs, they granted ours for the same reason," the mothers' attorney, John Kennedy, told the Deseret News today.
In its motion for an emergency stay, lawyers for the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services repeat their arguments that it still has not identified the parents of the FLDS children in custody.

"Louisa Bradshaw identified her children and husband," agency attorney Michael Shulman said in the filing. "Gladys Mae Jessop identified her children but not her husband or the father of her children. Marie Steed identified her children but not her husband or the father of her children."

Texas child welfare lawyers say that establishing those family links is critical to determining whether a home is safe from sexual predators.

"Failure to grant a stay will mean that approximately five children in this case will be returned to alleged mothers without any male sexual perpetrators being identified," Shulman wrote, renewing concerns that

reunited families may flee Texas and have no supervision by the state to protect children from abuse.

Kennedy said his office was drafting a response. Lawyers for the 38 FLDS mothers have said in court filings that Texas authorities have already established family relationships, especially during marathon status hearings that laid out the terms for parents to be reunited with their children.

The hearings abruptly stopped when the Third Court of Appeals issued its ruling.

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Postby Marina » Wed May 28, 2008 3:35 pm

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http://www.gosanangelo.com/news/2008/ma ... w-on-hold/

Custody hearing now on hold
By Paul A. Anthony (Contact)
Wednesday, May 28, 2008

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Postby Marina » Thu May 29, 2008 2:54 pm

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080529/ap_ ... st_retreat

Court: Sect children should be returned to parents

By MICHELLE ROBERTS, Associated Press Writer
29 minutes ago



SAN ANTONIO - In a crushing blow to the state's massive seizure of children from a polygamist sect's ranch, the Texas Supreme Court ruled Thursday that child welfare officials overstepped their authority and the children should go back to their parents.

The high court affirmed a decision by an appellate court last week, saying Child Protective Services failed to show an immediate danger to the more than 400 children swept up from the Yearning For Zion Ranch nearly two months ago.

"On the record before us, removal of the children was not warranted," the justices said in their ruling issued in Austin.

The high court let stand the appellate court's order that Texas District Judge Barbara Walther return the children from foster care to their parents. It's not clear how soon that may happen, but the appellate court ordered her to do it within a reasonable time period.

The ruling shatters one of the largest child-custody cases in U.S. history. State officials said the removals were necessary to end a cycle of sexual abuse at the ranch in which teenage girls were forced to marry and have sex with older men, but parents denied any abuse and said they were being persecuted for their religious beliefs.

Every child at the ranch in the west Texas town of Eldorado was removed; half were 5 or younger.

"The moms are clearly very happy at the news that it looks like they're going to get their kids a lot sooner than expected," said Cynthia Martinez, a spokeswoman for legal aid attorneys representing 38 mothers who filed the complaint that prompted the ruling. "It's definitely an emotional day."

The case before the court technically only applies to the 124 children of those mothers, but it significantly affects nearly all the children since they were removed under identical circumstances.

The Third Court of Appeals in Austin ruled last week that the state failed to show that any more than five of the teenage girls were being sexually abused, and had offered no evidence of sexual or physical abuse against the other children.

The ranch is run by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which teaches that polygamy brings glorification in heaven. It is a breakaway sect of the Mormon church, which renounced polygamy more than a century ago.

Roughly 430 children from the ranch are in foster care after two births, numerous reclassifications of adult women initially held as minors and a handful of agreements allowing parents to keep custody while the Supreme Court considered the case.

Texas officials claimed at one point that there were 31 teenage girls at the ranch who were pregnant or had been pregnant, but later conceded that about half of those mothers, if not more, were adults. One was 27.

Under Texas law, children can be taken from their parents if there's a danger to their physical safety, an urgent need for protection and if officials made a reasonable effort to keep the children in their homes. The high court agreed with the appellate court that the seizures fell short of that standard.

CPS lawyers had argued that parents could remove their children from state jurisdiction if they regain custody, that DNA tests needed to confirm parentage are still pending and that the lower-court judge had discretion in the case.

The justices said child welfare officials can take numerous actions to protect children short of separating them from their parents and placing them in foster care, and that Walther may still put restrictions on the children and parents to address concerns that they may flee once reunited.

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Postby Marina » Thu May 29, 2008 3:07 pm

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http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_9415203?source=rss
Mixed education: Some FLDS children get text books, others get water fights
The Salt Lake Tribune - May 29 9:12 AMPosted: 9:59 AM- SAN ANGELO, Texas -- As Texas courts wrangle over the fate of hundreds of FLDS children, some of them are working on their reading

http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_9417661?source=rss
FLDS update: Texas Supreme Court lets ruling stand to return sect children to parents
The Salt Lake Tribune - 1 hour, 42 minutes agoUpdated: 3:34 PM- SAN ANGELO, Texas - The Texas Supreme Court today turned down the state's request to overturn a lower court's ruling that hundreds of FLDS children were taken into custody improperly.

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Postby Marina » Thu May 29, 2008 3:13 pm

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http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,5143,700230020,00.html

Ruling: Some FLDS children must go back; dissent says teenage girls remain at risk

By Ben Winslow, Linda Thomson and Amy Joi O'Donoghue
Deseret News
Published: Thursday, May 29, 2008 4:19 p.m. MDT


The Texas Supreme Court has ruled that the removal of FLDS children from the YFZ Ranch was unwarranted — and the decision to take them was an abuse of judicial discretion.
The decision today comes after Texas RioGrande Legal Aid filed a writ of mandamus in the Third Court of Appeals on behalf of 38 mothers.

In its ruling, the high court said that state law gave the lower court broad authority to protect children "short of separating them from their parents and placing them in foster care," including removing alleged perpetrators from a child's home and preventing the removal of a child from the jurisdiction of the investigating agency.

Those options were not embraced, the court said.

"This is decision in an important step in reuniting these families," said Texas RioGrande Legal Aid attorney Kevin Dietz who is leading the group of attorneys working on the case. "It's great to see that the court system is working in the interest of justice."

The decision gives the mothers new hope that their families will be reunited relatively soon. Although the decision only applies to the 38 mothers named in the case, the decision will likely influence all the families, Dietz said.


"These mothers have never given up their fight to bring their families back together," added Dietz. "TRLA remains dedicated to working with the courts and CPS to do what is in the best interest of these children. Right now, that means reuniting these families."
A spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services told the Deseret News their attorneys were reviewing the ruling, "line by line," and looking at their options.

The agency was expected to issue a statement later today.

Lawyers for the mothers said the Supreme Court's ruling still allows child welfare authorities to conduct an investigation but "they have to go about it the correct way," said Cynthia Martinez, with the Texas RioGrande Legal Aid Society. The decision gets the children out of foster care facilities as soon as it can be coordinated with the courts.

"We are all very very happy with the ruling. It vindicates what we have said from the beginning. The children should never have been taken from their home and families and kept from their families for such a long time," said Rene Haas, an attorney for Joseph and Laurie Jessop, who have three children in state custody. The Jessops struck a deal with CPS that allowed their children to return to them as long as they remained in the San Antonio area.

Haas said she is trying to clarify whether the family needs to move back to the ranch. She said the family has every intention of "continuing to live in peace in Texas which was their hope when they moved here three years ago."

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Haas said she is trying to clarify whether the family needs to move back to the ranch. She said the family has every intention of "continuing to live in peace in Texas which was their hope when they moved here three years ago."
The decision does not let the FLDS off the hook, and in a measured and thoughtful dissent, Justice Harriet O'Neill said teenage girls at the YFZ Ranch face the danger of sexual abuse.

While she agreed there was no evidence of imminent danger to the safety of the boys and pre-pubescent girls to justify removal, she said the state agency needed more time to work to protect the ranch's "endangered" population — teenage girls.

For that group, O'Neill argued that the trial court did not abuse its discretion given the obstacles authorities encountered in gathering information.

The dissenting opinion was supported by Justice Phil Johnson and Justice Don R. Willett.

In their dissent, the three justices said evidence was presented that showed:

• Several teenage girls on the ranch were pregnant or had given birth.

• The ranch's religious leader had "unilateral power to decide when and to whom they would be married."


• Documents taken from the ranch showed there were "several extremely young mothers or pregnant 'wives'" on the ranch.
• One expert confirmed that the FLDS Church accepts the age of "physical development" (the start of a monthly cycle for a girl) as the age of eligibility for "marriage."

• A child psychologist testified that pregnancy of underage children at the ranch was the result of sexual abuse because children ages 15, 15 or 16 are "not sufficiently mature to enter a healthy consensual sexual relationship or 'marriage.'

"Evidence presented thus indicated a pattern of practice of sexual abuse of pubescent girls, and the condoning of such sexual abuse, on the ranch — evidence sufficient to satisfy 'a person of ordinary prudence and caution' that other such girls were at risk of sexual abuse as well," the dissenting opinion said.

"This evidence supports the trial court's finding that 'there was a danger to the physical health or safety" of pubescent girls on the ranch," the opinion states.

In addition, the dissenting opinion said that the Department of Family and Protective Services was hampered in its efforts to protect the children through any alternative means other than taking them from the ranch.

The department is required to "make reasonable efforts" to avoid taking custody of endangered children, but department employees found that children on the ranch would not give information about their birth dates, who their parents were, who lived in their homes, and, in several cases, lied repeated.


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For that group, O'Neill argued that the trial court did not abuse its discretion given the obstacles authorities encountered in gathering information.
The dissenting opinion was supported by Justice Phil Johnson and Justice Don R. Willett.

In their dissent, the three justices said evidence was presented that showed:

• Several teenage girls on the ranch were pregnant or had given birth.

• The ranch's religious leader had "unilateral power to decide when and to whom they would be married."

• Documents taken from the ranch showed there were "several extremely young mothers or pregnant 'wives'" on the ranch.

• One expert confirmed that the FLDS Church accepts the age of "physical development" (the start of a monthly cycle for a girl) as the age of eligibility for "marriage."

• A child psychologist testified that pregnancy of underage children at the ranch was the result of sexual abuse because children ages 15, 15 or 16 are "not sufficiently mature to enter a healthy consensual sexual relationship or 'marriage.'

"Evidence presented thus indicated a pattern of practice of sexual abuse of pubescent girls, and the condoning of such sexual abuse, on the ranch — evidence sufficient to satisfy 'a person of ordinary prudence and caution' that other such girls were at risk of sexual abuse as well," the dissenting opinion said.


"This evidence supports the trial court's finding that 'there was a danger to the physical health or safety" of pubescent girls on the ranch," the opinion states.
In addition, the dissenting opinion said that the Department of Family and Protective Services was hampered in its efforts to protect the children through any alternative means other than taking them from the ranch.

The department is required to "make reasonable efforts" to avoid taking custody of endangered children, but department employees found that children on the ranch would not give information about their birth dates, who their parents were, who lived in their homes, and, in several cases, lied repeated.

Parents at the ranch also gave inconsistent information and officials discovered a shredder that had been used to destroy documents just before department officials arrived.

"Thwarted by the resistant behavior of both children and parents on the ranch, the department had limited options," the dissenting opinion said.

The department could not get restraining orders, for example, because it would not know whom to restrain. It also could not prevent certain family members from having access to a child because it could not file a pleading or affidavit, which has to identify the parent and child the department seeks to keep apart.


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The three dissenting justices also said that the trial court heard evidence that "the mothers themselves believed that the practice of underage 'marriage' and procreation was not harmful for young girls ..." the opinion said.
The department will not place children back with their parents until it is certain that the parents realize that what happened in the first place hurt the children.

"This is some evidence that the department could not have reasonably sought to maintain custody with the mothers. Thus, evidence presented to the trial court demonstrated that the department took reasonable efforts, consistent with extraordinarily difficult circumstances, to protect the children without taking them into custody," the dissenting opinion said.

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Postby Marina » Thu May 29, 2008 3:17 pm

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http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_9415154?source=rss

Legal aid group: Texas officials offer 'diversionary reasons' to keep FLDS kids

By Brooke Adams
The Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated: 05/29/2008 09:55:14 AM MDT



Posted: 9:53 AM- SAN ANGELO, Texas --

Texas RioGrande Legal Aid today filed a response to the state Supreme Court saying the Department of Families and Protective Services offers only "diversionary reasons" for why it would be impractical and wrong to return FLDS children to their parents.
"The department cannot scatter hundreds of children -- including infants and toddlers -- to the four winds and then complain that it cannot put the pieces of the puzzle back together again," TRLA wrote.
The legal aid firm represents 38 FLDS mothers whose children are in state custody. It filed the 17-page document in response to the high court's request that it counter the state's effort to overturn an appeals court ruling that some if not all of the more than 450 children taken into custody last month should be sent home.
The state conducted the raid on the polygamous sect's Eldorado ranch in early April, contending the children were at risk of physical and sexual abuse.
The 3rd Court of Appeals found a week ago that 51st District Judge Barbara Walther lacked sufficient evidence to support those claims for all the children. In hearings after the raid, Walther ruled the children would remain in custody.
The DFPS has asked the high court to overturn the appellate court's subsequent order, saying it made a "poor analysis of misstated facts
in issuing its ruling" and abused its own discretion in reweighing the evidence presented in the trial court in mid-April.
In its filing, TRLA contends the DFPS failed to satisfy a three-pronged test laid out by the state legislature aimed at protecting the parent-child relationship from unnecessary interference.
DFPS says it has met those criteria: that everyone at the ranch comprised one large community and one belief system, and that the adults failed to understand how FLDS practices put the children at risk.
TRLA also contends it's disingenuous for state officials to say they don't know which children belong with which parents.
DFPS also has said it fears that if the children are returned, their families would flee Texas, but TRLA counters that the risk of flight issue is not reason to authorize continued custody.
The issue before the court is not whether the department acted in good faith, but whether it met mandatory legal criteria for keeping the children, according to TRLA.
TRLA also contends the state department puts forth a "jumble of assertions" about beliefs combined with its only potential evidence of physical abuse: five minor girls who were pregnant or had children. The department argues that this justifies removal of hundreds of children.
DFPS offers no evidence of risk for boys or prepubescent girls, TRLA said. Moreover, it claims, targeting a group's beliefs runs afoul of the U.S. Constitution.
Also this morning, national and state American Civil Liberties Union filed a friend-of-the-court brief supporting TRLA's position.
"State officials have an important obligation to protect children against abuse," said Lisa Graybill, legal direction for the ACLU of Texas.
"However, such actions should not indiscriminately target a group as a whole -- particularly if the group is perceived as being different or unusual," she wrote.
It is not known when the Texas Supreme Court will issue a ruling.

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Marina
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Postby Marina » Thu May 29, 2008 3:24 pm

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http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,5143,700230027,00.html

ACLU, child abuse attorney file supporting papers in FLDS case
By Ben Winslow
Deseret News
Published: Thursday, May 29, 2008 1:25 p.m. MDT

SAN ANGELO, Texas — The American Civil Liberties Union is stepping away from merely observing the situation involving the hundreds of children placed in state protective custody in the raid on the Fundamentalist LDS Church's YFZ Ranch.
The ACLU of Texas filed a brief today with the Texas Supreme Court, siding with a group of mothers seeking the immediate return of their children.

"The State's sole evidence on harm was limited to general allegations that these parents are part of a 'culture,' and subscribe to a 'belief,' and a 'mindset,' that girls as young as 14 may be considered of age to marry," ACLU attorney Lisa Graybill wrote in the brief obtained by the Deseret News...

"The record contains no evidence of harm specific to the children of real parties in interest. The United States Constitution does not allow DFPS to separate children and their parents based solely on beliefs."

The ACLU criticizes the mass hearing in April that led a judge to find abuse and order more than 450 children to be placed in the custody of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. The ACLU said the hearing denied everyone their due process rights and the families are entitled to a fair treatment under Texas law.


Earlier this month, the ACLU issued a statement, saying it had "serious concerns" about the rights of the FLDS people being trampled on in the massive custody hearings. It also supported a decision by Austin's 3rd Court of Appeals in favor of the FLDS mothers.
"State officials have an important obligation to protect children against abuse," Graybill said in a statement. "However, such actions should not be indiscriminately targeted against a group as a whole — particularly when the group is perceived as being different or unusual. Actions should be based on concrete evidence of harm and not based upon prejudice against religious or other communities."

Meanwhile, a friend-of-the court brief was filed today in defense of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services.

Barbara J. Elias-Perciful, a Dallas-based attorney who specializes in child welfare law, filed the brief on behalf of "child clients."

"This case involves the systematic rape of minor children — conduct that is institutionalized and euphemistically called 'spiritual marriage.' That label, however, cannot change the fact that the conduct exposed by the testimony in the 14-day hearing in the lower court is child sexual abuse as a matter of law," she wrote.

Elias-Perciful wrote that the 3rd Court of Appeals ignored evidence of underage pregnancies, and that despite extensive evidence of sexual abuse, incorrectly concluded there was no danger to other children. She said that the children deserve to be in a household free from sexual abuse and that to return the children now "would send a message that sexual abuse of young girls is not a serious matter."


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It will also eliminate the parents' incentive to make the difficult changes necessary to ensure the safety of their children," Elias-Perciful wrote. "For many, this will mean having to make a choice to leave behind a lifestyle that included sexual abuse of young girls, training girls to accept abuse, and training boys to be perpetrators. More importantly, as the Department has effectively established, the evidence shows a serious flight risk for these children."
Elias-Perciful said that removing the children is a step down a path toward a safer life for children.

"Removal is like the painful surgery that is necessary before healing can take place," she wrote. "It can be the best and only chance to protect the child and is the best chance to reunify the family in a healthy way."

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Postby Marina » Fri May 30, 2008 3:43 pm

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http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,5143,700230387,00.html

FLDS parents could pick up children this weekend

By Ben Winslow
Deseret News
Published: Friday, May 30, 2008 4:48 p.m. MDT


SAN ANGELO, Texas — Parents from the FLDS Church's YFZ Ranch could begin picking up their children as early as this weekend under a deal being hammered out right now in court.
A proposed order to return the children is still being discussed in a hearing that's lasted several hours with dozens of attorneys trying to make argument and objections before the same judge that ordered the children removed in the first place.

"The bulk of those returns will probably happen next week," said attorney Rod Parker, a spokesman for the Fundamentalist LDS Church.

"The parents will be picking up their children. That's the way the parents want it and I think that's the way CPS wants it."

More than 400 children have been scattered in foster care facilities all over Texas since last month's raid on the ranch.

After attorneys spent time this afternoon discussing a proposed agreement from Child Protective Services, Judge Barbara Walther offered her own solution and asked CPS attorneys and attorneys for the parents and children to review it.

The judge said she wanted to include in her proposal provisions from the Texas Family Code to spell out what exactly CPS can and cannot do.

Walther's agreement includes defining what a household means, providing notice about destinations to which any children will be traveling and prohibiting them from leaving the state of Texas. If children are to travel more than 60 miles within Texas, CPS must be given 48 hours notice.
The agreement allows CPS workers to have access to the YFZ Ranch at any and all times, be able to interview and examine the children, or transport them for interviews, with parental notice.

Guy Choate, an attorney acting as spokesman for the court, said Walther intended to sign the proposal this afternoon.

Walther is working on the agreement after the Texas Supreme Court Thursday upheld an appellate court's decision ordering the judge to vacate her order that placed all of the children from the ranch into state protective custody.

The proposed agreement applies to approximately 139 children belonging to 41 mothers, but Walther said in court she expects the list will be expanded. "The court thinks this ruling would be the same for each and every child," she said.

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Postby Marina » Sat May 31, 2008 6:11 am

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http://www.myfoxaustin.com/myfox/pages/ ... geId=3.2.1

Texas Judge Refuses to Sign Order in Polygamy Custody Case

Last Edited: Friday, 30 May 2008, 8:33 PM CDT
Created: Friday, 30 May 2008, 8:33 PM CDT

Polygamist Compound By MICHELLE ROBERTS
Associated Press Writer


SAN ANGELO, Texas -- A Texas judge refused on Friday to sign an agreement that would have paved the way for the first large batch of children taken from a polygamist sect's ranch to return to their parents, dashing hopes raised by a Supreme Court ruling in the case.

Texas District Judge Barbara Walther wanted to add restrictions to the parents' movement and broaden the authority of Child Protective Services to monitor the more than 400 children in foster care before signing an agreement by CPS and the parents that would have reunited the families.

When several parents' attorneys objected and argued that Walther didn't have the authority to expand the agreement, she said she would only sign the initial document after all 38 parents whose case was considered by the Supreme Court signed off -- a provision attorneys said would ensure the children stayed in custody at least through the weekend.

The hearing's end was a stunning development after it appeared the parents and CPS had reached an agreement that would allow children to return beginning Monday. The tentative plan technically applied only to the mothers named in an appellate court ruling that found CPS was unjustified in sweeping up the children from the Yearning For Zion Ranch two months ago, but everyone agreed the order would be extended to all but a few specific children.

"There was an opportunity today for relief in this, and it was not granted," said Willie Jessop, an elder for the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which runs the ranch.

Attorneys for several of the minors and mothers in custody said Walther's refusal to sign the order would likely result in more appellate court filings.

While Walther said she would issue the order if all the parents signed, attorney Andrea Sloan said that would take days because parents have spread across the state to be close to their children in foster care.

"It's not as simple as going across the street and setting up a booth," said Sloan, who represents several young FLDS women and minors who contend they should be reclassified as adults.

Laura Shockley, an attorney for several children and mothers not part of the original appellate court case, predicted more filings in the Third District Court of Appeals in Austin on Monday. That court ordered Walther to allow the children to return to their parents in a reasonable time, a decision affirmed by the Texas Supreme Court on Thursday.

The agreement between CPS and parents said they would not be allowed to leave Texas until Aug. 31 but could move back to the ranch. It also called for parenting classes and visits by CPS to interview children and parents in the child abuse investigation.

Walther wanted to remove the August deadline and provide for psychological evaluations of the children.

All the children living at the ranch were placed in state custody in early April after CPS said the sect was forcing underage girls into marriage and sex and endangering all the children, including infants and boys.

An appellate court ruled last week that CPS failed to show an immediate danger to justify taking the children from their parents, saying the state failed to show any more than five of the teenage girls were being sexually abused and offered no evidence of sexual or physical abuse of the other children.

The Supreme Court agreed in a ruling Thursday.

Under state law, children can be taken from their parents if there's a danger to their physical safety, an urgent need for protection and if officials made a reasonable effort to keep the children in their homes -- standards that were not met in the FLDS case, the appellate courts said.

The Supreme Court justices, however, said Walther could put restrictions on the children and parents to address concerns that they may flee once reunited and that CPS had authority to investigate and intervene in the family's lives to prevent abuse.

Texas authorities, meanwhile, collected DNA swabs Thursday from sect leader Warren Jeffs in an ongoing criminal investigation separate from the custody dispute.

A search warrant for the DNA alleges that Jeffs had "spiritual" marriages with four girls, ages 12 to 15.

Jeffs, who is revered as a prophet, is serving a prison sentence for a Utah conviction of being accomplice to rape in the marriage of a 14-year-old girl to a 19-year-old sect member. He awaits trial in Arizona on similar charges.

FLDS members, who believe polygamy brings glorification in heaven, say there was no abuse at the ranch. The sect is a breakaway sect of the Mormon church, which renounced polygamy more than a century ago.

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Postby Marina » Sat May 31, 2008 6:21 am

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http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_9428706?source=rss

FLDS Update: Judge-Attorney conference ends in confusion

By Brooke Adams and Julie Lyon
The Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated: 05/31/2008 02:39:01 AM MDT


Updated: 5:52 PM- SAN ANGELO, Texas -

A four-hour conference ended in mass confusion today in a Texas courthouse where attorneys had gathered to work out a plan for getting the children of a polygamous sect out of state custody and back home.
Fifty-first District Judge Barbara Walther ended the conference after an attorney with Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, which represents many of the families, challenged the judge's modifications to a negotiated agreement on the children.
Walthers convened the conference after the Texas Supreme Court on Thursday backed a May 22 decision from the Third Court of Appeals that found the state did not have proof that all the children were in imminent danger of abuse that justified keeping them out of their homes.
The higher courts ruled that the state's case particularly failed in regard to boys and pre-pubescent girls and that the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services had other alternatives for working with parents to ensure safety while leaving the children in their care.
By day's end, Walther had not vacated her original order seizing the children as the higher courts had ordered. That means that about 450 children may not be going home on Monday, as proposed, attorneys for the families said.
Attorney Julie Balovich of Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, which represents many of the
families from the FYZ Ranch in Eldorado, told the judge that the message from the higher courts was clear: Walther must vacate her order.
Walther disagreed with Balovich's interpretation, saying to the legal aid firm, "You get an order signed by all your clients and I will sign it."
After the conference, attorneys said that such an order would require negotiations and the signatures of the 38 mothers who appealed Walther's original order, which could take a long time.
Earlier today, it appeared that the judge and attorneys could work out a way to start allowing the children to go home starting Monday.
In their negotiations, Walther set out rules: In order to take custody, FLDS parents or their designees must produce an affidavit and have themselves and their children photographed "at the time of taking possession of the child," according to the order.
Also, the children would not be allowed to leave the state for at least 90 days, and if the families move within Texas, the parents must notify the state seven working days prior to the relocation.
And if the children were to travel within state lines more than 60 miles from where they live, the state must be told at least 48 hours in advance.
The judge also would have required that state officials be allowed access to the YFZ Ranch "at any and all times necessary to the investigation" if any children are there. In addition, mothers and fathers must take parenting classes.
The children were taken from the YFZ Ranch in Eldorado between April 3-5. Residents of the ranch are members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which holds plural marriage as one of its sacred tenets.

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Postby Marina » Sat May 31, 2008 6:38 am

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http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/ ... 8.html?npc

Judge adjourns without ruling on FLDS children's return

Web Posted: 05/30/2008 07:31 PM CDT

Lisa Sandberg and Terri Langford
Hearst Newspapers

SAN ANGELO -- An attorney's last-minute objection Friday nixed the much-anticipated release from foster care of more than 460 children taken from a polygamist sect's ranch, throwing a courtroom into chaos and sect parents into bitter disappointment.

State District Judge Barbara Walther was about to approve an amended agreement that would have, with few exceptions, returned all of the children to their parents after a nearly two-month separation following a state raid and alleged sexual abuse investigation.

The plan would have returned the children to their parents as soon as Saturday with certain conditions.

But just as Walther was set to approve it, a lone attorney -- by telephone -- objected to some minor points added by the judge. The attorney insisted that the judge could only cancel her original removal order and return the children or go with an earlier draft that attorneys for mothers of the children endorsed.

"I will take a look at the original order to see if I can sign it," said Walther before taking a recess.

The judge returned to the bench and informed attorneys that she would sign the original order as long as it had the signature of 43 mothers who are members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and had sued the state to get their children returned.

"If you provide me with an order signed by all of your clients, I will sign it," she said before abruptly leaving the bench, throwing the courtroom into turmoil.

"Does that mean our kids won't be released?" asked one attorney who attended the hearing by telephone through a conference call.

Another one asked: "Can someone repeat what the judge just said?" Walther did not say when she would return or when the next hearing would take place, leaving puzzled attorneys in her wake.

"There was an opportunity for relief and it was not granted," said Willie Jessop, an FLDS member and spokesman for church members who live at the Yearning For Zion Ranch north of Eldorado in West Texas.

Minutes before the objection that put the agreement in limbo, Walther told attorneys she would like to see the children returned, quickly.

"I think the children should be returned as soon as possible," Walther said, a stunning reversal to her own decision six weeks ago that more than 460 children be removed from the sect's YFZ Ranch after CPS officials claimed underaged girls were being forced into "spiritual marriages" with adult men.

Walther spent Friday tweaking an agreement between CPS and members of the FLDS, a breakaway Mormon sect that practices polygamy. The two sides have been locked in the largest child custody dispute in the nation's history since CPS officials, together with law enforcement officials, raided the church's ranch in early April after a tip led them to investigate claims that underage girls were married to adult FLDS men.

Walther's expected move to cancel her own order removing the children came one day after the Texas Supreme Court sided with a Third Court of Appeals finding that CPS failed to prove the children were in such danger of abuse at the ranch that removal was the only option.

Following a not-so-subtle roadmap laid out by the Supreme Court decision, Walther began working on a plan forged by attorneys for CPS and those representing the children and parents who are on the YFZ ranch. The Supreme Court informed the court that there were other remedies it could have taken before resorting to removal.

In the plan considered Friday, the children could be returned but not without the following conditions: Each child and their parents will be photographed by CPS officials, all FLDS parents must agree to complete a parenting class and no child can be removed from the state of Texas without meeting certain conditions. Any child who can prove they were living out of state, for example, and were merely visiting the ranch at the time of the raid, can leave.

Also, any child having to travel more than 60 miles from the ranch can do so only after providing CPS 48 hours notice of the travel.

The key provision in the agreement CPS or any state agency involved in the child abuse investigation access to the children at any time, day or night.

All of these conditions would remain in effect until they are amended by Walther.

FLDS members say no one is forced into these "spiritual marriages" but they do acknowledge that girls under the age of 18 are involved in these unions.

CPS officials have claimed that all girls, even very young children and newborns, are at risk of sexual abuse because of sect members belief that any girl is eligible once she enters puberty. CPS officials have said the boys are at risk of abuse because they are being raised to become sexual predators. Both arguments have been criticized by lawyers for the children as being overreaching and ludicrous.

Lawyers for CPS' parent agency, the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, have argued that there was sufficient evidence to show a culture where adult men commanded sex from underage children while adult women knowingly allowed such abuse.

Carolyn Jessop, a former FLDS member whose book "Escape" chronicles her decision to leave the sect after she and her children endured abuses, said the decision to return any of the children back to the ranch was disappointing.

"Oh, that's awful. They're going to keep doing the same abuses," Jessop said of FLDS members. "Right now, the FLDS is going to see this and that they can commit crimes against children and the state of Texas can't do anything."

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Postby Marina » Sat May 31, 2008 6:44 am

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http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,5143,700230495,00.html

Texas judge walks off bench; when FLDS children will return is unknown

By Ben Winslow and Nancy Perkins
Deseret News
Published: Friday, May 30, 2008 6:13 p.m. MDT


SAN ANGELO, Texas — The devil was in the details.
Discussions about a proposed order involving the return of children taken from the Fundamentalist LDS Church's YFZ Ranch broke down late this afternoon when attorneys for the families wanted to review proposed changes with their clients.

Judge Barbara Walther announced the attorneys had better get all of their clients' signatures before she would sign the agreement and abruptly left the bench late this afternoon.

A lawyer for the families, Laura Shockley, said she expected attorneys would return to an Austin appeals court Monday to push for an order returning the children. It was the 3rd Court of Appeals that said Walther should not have ordered the children to be removed from the ranch and warned that if Walther failed to act, they would do it for her.

Lawyers for the families said that an agreement had been tentatively reached with Child Protective Services when they walked into court earlier today. Walther, however, expressed concerns about the proposed agreement and called an hourlong recess. She then returned to the bench with her own proposed order.

That led to concerns from many family attorneys who raised objections and questions on behalf of their clients.


The judge added additional restrictions to the the agreement, including psychological evaluations and allowing CPS to do inspections at the children's home at any time. Several of the more than 100 attorneys in the courtroom and patched into the hearing through phone lines objected to the judge's additions.
"The court does not have the power, with all due respect, to enter any other order (other than vacating)," said Julie Balovich of the Texas RioGrande Legal Aid over the telephone. She argued that no evidence justifying the additional restrictions had been entered as evidence before the judge.

After reviewing the appellate court decision, Walther returned to the bench and announced she believed the Supreme Court's decision upholding the appellate court decision gave her the authority to impose whatever conditions she feels are necessary.

"The Supreme Court does say this court can place restrictions on the parents. I do not read that this decision says that this court is required to have another hearing to do that. You may interpret that however you choose."

With that, the judge abruptly left the bench, saying she would await any submitted orders.

Immediately, attorneys in the courtroom and over the phone, expressed confusion.

"What did she say?" one attorney asked.

"Do We have another hearing?"

"What did she order?"

No additional hearings are currently scheduled. The judge signed no orders that would allow for the release of any children.

Lawyers for CPS left the courthouse declining to speak about the hearing.

"I'm going to do what the court directed," said CPS attorney Gary Banks

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Postby Marina » Sat May 31, 2008 12:51 pm

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http://www.gosanangelo.com/news/2008/ma ... n-delayed/

Sect kids' return delayed
Court, lawyers left at an impasse

By Matt Phinney (Contact)
Saturday, May 31, 2008



The children from the YFZ Ranch won't be going home this weekend.

Judge Barbara Walther left the courtroom Friday evening without signing an order that would have started the reunification process with parents of the more than 400 children from 1,700-acre polygamist sect ranch near Eldorado. It was a sudden twist in a hearing that went on for more than four hours and introduced three distinct proposed orders that would have led to reuniting children and their parents.

In the end, Walther left after saying the court would sign orders when mothers from the ranch agree to them. That means the children won't leave shelters this weekend, said lawyers who represent mothers and children in the case.

They also said they will file more court documents Monday asking the Third Court of Appeals to make Walther release the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints children.

The Texas Supreme Court on Thursday agreed with the Third Court of Appeals in ordering Walther to vacate her ruling that gave the CPS custody of about 450 children taken from the ranch.

The Supreme Court stopped short, however, of ordering an unconditional return of the children in question, leaving open questions of when children will be reunited with their families, how it will be done, and what conditions CPS will seek on the reunification.

Many lawyers and one sect leader were baffled and upset when Walther left the court without signing an order.

Many others were left asking what would happen next.

"There was opportunity for relief," said Willie Jessop, group leader. "It was not granted today."

CPS issued a statement through e-mail after the hearing that reads:

"The hearing in San Angelo has concluded. (Department of Family and Protective Services) worked with the attorneys for the children and parents' attorneys on a plan for reunifications that was presented to the court. Today, Judge Walther asked that we continue to finalize this plan together to ensure the prompt and orderly return of the children."

A proposed order, which seemingly was approved by CPS and attorneys representing the families, was introduced at the beginning of the hearing that states the department would begin returning the children at 8 a.m. Monday.

The proposal also stipulated the parents would undergo parent counseling and cooperate with the ongoing investigation, and that the parents wouldn't leave the state, at least until Aug. 31.

Technically the order was for just the mothers in the original appeal, but the implications were for all children, Walther said.

Walther took a break and countered with a proposal that put more restrictions on travel and other stipulations.

Her proposal gave the same time frame for releasing the children. However, it also said that if children were to travel more than 60 miles from their designated residence, the CPS must be given at least 48 hours' notice.

It also said case workers should have access to the ranch at "any and all times necessary to the investigators."

As well, it states case workers could interview and examine the children, which could include medical, psychological or psychiatric examinations.

Lawyers for sect members objected to the new proposal, saying it wasn't what they had originally agreed to, and that the court has no authority to impose those stipulations because there is no evidence those sect members broke any laws.

Walther countered that the Texas Supreme Court ruled that the court can put conditions on reunification to keep the children safe.

The Supreme Court ruling seemed to indicate Walther has some latitude to order parents to refrain from removing their children "beyond a geographical area identified by the court" while a thorough investigation continues.

Lawyers argued it does not give her the authority to allow some of the conditions she put in her version of the proposed agreement.

Walther eventually ruled that if each parent signed the agreed-upon ruling, then the court would sign it as well.

Earlier in the proceeding, it appeared both sides were close to a deal that would have begun allowing parents to pick up their children Monday morning, and some attorneys argued their clients could be reunited over the weekend.

A CPS lawyer and Walther said they wanted the children returned as quickly as possible but wanted to make sure the logistics were in place, ensuring every child got picked up by a parent or guardian and ended up in the right place.

Laura Shockley, an attorney representing a mother and several children, said attorneys are usually allowed to sign such orders for their clients.

"The effect is that all children will be unlawfully detained for at least 48 hours and probably more," she said.

Andrea Sloan, an attorney who represents several disputed minors, said many mothers are scattered across the state near their children, and reaching them so they can sign the order will put a further strain on attorneys and the families.

Still, she said she is confident in the court system of Texas to get the children home.

Jessop was incensed that Walther didn't sign the order and wanted clarification.

"The judge left the court in total disarray," Jessop said. "There is no way to know when relief will be here to fix what happened on April 3. It's total confusion."

Jessop said some children taken from the ranch are having trouble sleeping and eating in state custody.

"It's been an absolute terror of an experience," he said. "It's difficult to sit and watch this happen."

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Postby Marina » Sat May 31, 2008 1:04 pm

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http://www.sltrib.com/ci_9436377

Meeting on kids' fate gets nowhere
Children's return in doubt as judge fails to vacate her order

By Brooke Adams
and Julia Lyon
The Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated: 05/31/2008 04:15:58 AM MDT




SAN ANGELO, Texas - Hundreds of children of a polygamous sect were no closer to going home Friday when 51st District Judge Barbara Walther left the bench without abandoning her order keeping them in state custody.
Two higher courts have told Walther to do so.
But the judge abruptly ended a four-hour conference with attorneys after being challenged about changes she made to a negotiated plan to return the FLDS children home.
Before leaving the courtroom, Walther told attorneys to work on an agreement and get it signed by the 38 mothers who appealed her earlier order holding the children in state custody - something that will take days, lawyers said.
Polygamy hearing

Friday's conference with 51st District Judge Barbara Walther and lawyers who represent parents in the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints made for a tumultuous day.
The conference was intended to find appropriate ways to return some 450 children who were taken from the polygamous sect's West Texas ranch early in April and placed in state custody at foster care and shelters around the state.
Here are the first and last drafts of proposed court orders that emerged during the conference, which ended without resolution.

Proposed Order

Final proposed order

That "essentially incarcerates the children and the mothers of our children for another 48 hours," said Laura Shockley, a Dallas attorney, moments after startled lawyers filed out of the Tom Green County Courthouse.
Texas child welfare workers have alleged that the sect promotes marriage between underage girls and older men, and that boys are groomed to continue the practice.
About 450 children taken from the YFZ Ranch, home to members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, remain for now in shelters across Texas.
The children were taken from the YFZ Ranch in Eldorado between April 3 and April 5, based on the state's fear that children were being sexually and physically abused.
"It is a very sad demonstration of the legal system when a judge throws a tantrum and is not willing to sit at the table long enough to resolve the problem of getting little children back home," said Willie Jessop, an FLDS member and spokesman.
Attorneys for parents and the state arrived at the court with an agreement that called for children to be reunited with their parents beginning Monday.
Walther called a recess to allow attorneys to review the deal, but came back an hour later with her own "tweaked" version, which she said would apply to all the FLDS children.
The judge's changes, among others things, asked parents to give state agents around-the-clock access to homes at the YFZ Ranch and to agree to psychological evaluations on the children.
The changes repeat the same "global" claims of wrongdoing rejected by the Texas Supreme Court and Third Court of Appeals in the past week as being unsubstantiated, attorneys said. The modifications, they said, also went beyond reasonable conditions that would allow the state to continue its abuse investigation.

The higher courts ruled that the state's case particularly failed in regard to boys and pre-pubescent girls. Also, DFPS had other alternatives for working with parents to ensure safety while leaving the children in their care, the courts said.
"There is no evidence in the record regarding these people at all," said Julie Balovich, an attorney with Texas Rio- Grande Legal Aid, which represents the mothers who filed the appeal. "There is nothing the court has the ability to enter temporary orders on."
Attorney Gonzalo Rios said the judge's modifications amounted to "bootstrapping" a criminal investigation onto the child welfare case. The Texas Attorney General's Office already has launched a criminal investigation into the abuse claims.
Balovich said TRLA had agreed in "good faith" to conditions in the original deal, such as parenting classes and a 90-day restriction keeping the children in Texas. But "Why does Viola Barlow have to give 24-hour access to her 9-month-old son?" Balovich said later, using one mother represented in the appeal as an example.
The Texas Department of Families and Child Protection was satisfied with the agreement, Balovich said.
Other TRLA attorneys said they could not sign off on Walther's proposal because their clients had not seen it. They asked the judge to simply vacate her order and let the children return home. Some attorneys asked the judge to allow that to begin as soon as Friday, sparing parents who had traveled hundreds of miles to visit children from making a return trip next week.
"Another weekend seems like it would be forever'' for the children, said John Kennedy, an attorney for Legal Aid of Northwest Texas, which also successfully petitioned the appeals court for three mothers.
Walther declined, saying the state still had to work out logistics of how to hand the children back to their parents.
"The last thing any of us wants is for a child to get misplaced in any of this," Walther said.
State attorneys left the courthouse without comment. A spokeswoman later said DFPS would continue to work on a plan "to ensure the prompt and orderly return of the children."
But how that will happen perplexed attorneys. Andrea Sloan, who represents some young mothers, said parents had scattered across the state as they have waited for their children in the past few weeks. Collecting their signatures, as the judge asked, would be incredibly difficult, she said.
"It's not as simple as walking across the street and setting up a booth," Sloan said.

...

The original agreement called for:
-- Parents to complete parenting classes and allowed them to negotiate
about providers
-- CPS to be allowed to make unannounced home visits between 8
a.m. to 8 p.m.
-- Identify all household members
-- Barred the children from leaving Texas for the next 90 days.

Judge Barbara Walther's proposed changes:
-- Stated "only a portion" of her first order was vacated
-- Dropped parents' ability to negotiate on parenting classes
-- Left the children's travel ban open-ended
-- Allowed parents and children to be given psychological evaluations
-- Directed parents to give two-days notice if they traveled more
than 60 miles
-- Allowed state officials access to homes at the ranch at all times

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Postby Marina » Sat May 31, 2008 1:40 pm

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http://www.sltrib.com/ci_9388888?IADID= ... sltrib.com

Watchdog criticizes FLDS hearings

By Brooke Adams
The Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated: 05/27/2008 12:18:47 AM MDT


SAN ANGELO, Texas - One watchdog of the Texas child-welfare system called last week's status hearings for FLDS parents highly unusual.
"In every single hearing I heard it was rubber-stamping and not caring what the Texas code says about family service plans," said Johana Scot, executive director of the Parent Guidance Center in Austin.
Scot is a former court-appointed special advocate volunteer who has spent the past four years helping parents navigate the state's child-welfare system. She spent two days sitting through hearings in San Angelo last week.
Her conclusion: The process has been altered and parents shut out.
Marleigh Meisner, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Family and Protective Services, said Monday she could not comment on Scot's criticism of the process.
The state typically assigns a single caseworker to a family, aiding continuity and communication as parents work to be reunited with their children, she said. In the FLDS cases, there are separate workers for parents and children - and only the parents' caseworkers participated in most hearings.
Scot also said it was atypical for parents to have no say in the service plans before the status hearings or for judges to refuse to make changes in them.
"The status hearing is designed so the judge can hear what CPS and the family has come up with as a
'cure' for the family," she said.
Judges routinely alter the plans at status hearings to take out elements that are irrelevant or add services a parent needs, Scot said.
Several attorneys sought adjustments; a number asked judges to eliminate educational assessments for infants but were turned down. One attorney asked Judge Barbara Walther to order "Preparation for Adult Living" training to one young mother's but she refused.
There was little to no discussion about what services children would require while in state custody - something Scot called "glaring."
She said that service plans usually list names and telephone numbers of parenting class providers, but caseworkers said providers were being given "cultural sensitivity" training and contact information would not be available until June. Scot called that "disturbing."
"These people do this everyday for a living but CPS is going to give them training? That says the parent . . . is not going to get unbiased service," she said.

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Postby Marina » Sat May 31, 2008 3:48 pm

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080531/ap_ ... st_retreat

Texas agency under magnifying glass over sect raid

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Postby Marina » Sun Jun 01, 2008 2:14 pm

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http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/met ... 11827.html

May 31, 2008, 9:22PM

Critics say CPS failed to foresee nuances

Agency faulted in taking routine route on FLDS


By JANET ELLIOTT
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau


AUSTIN — In the early days of the state's raid on a West Texas polygamist sect's compound, child welfare officials insisted that they were going by the book in removing children from a potentially dangerous living situation.

Only the numbers made the case unusual, representatives for Child Protective Services repeatedly insisted.

But that rigid professional compass may have prevented agency officials from thinking about the various "what ifs" in the case and now many people are second-guessing CPS.

The decision to remove more than 460 children, including infants, toddlers and boys, because of the group's practice of marrying young teen girls to older men ultimately led to the Texas Supreme Court ruling Thursday that the children — including the teenage girls considered most at risk — should be returned to the Yearning For Zion Ranch near Eldorado.

It's uncertain when the state will begin moving the children back to their home. The San Angelo judge overseeing the case refused to sign an order until sect parents agreed to certain conditions, including allowing CPS workers access to the children.

"Treating this case like it was any other case was obviously an error," said Jack Sampson, a University of Texas law professor who helped write the state's Family Code. "That's why one could, in retrospect, say it was too ham-handed. They should have been more nuanced."

Sampson said the agency also should have been more sensitive to the political and social ramifications of the case, which involves the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a breakaway Mormon sect.


Speaking out

After hundreds of children were separated from their mothers and bused to shelters around the state, the FLDS mothers broke their silence. They met with reporters and did television interviews where they were open about their heartbreak, but they refused to say whether they had helped arrange "spiritual marriages" between their teenage daughters and older men.

Although a criminal investigation is continuing, the children's return is expected to make it harder for the state to prove an ongoing threat of abuse.

CPS officials said in April they needed to separate the children from their mothers to break a code of silence the women enforced.

Richard Wexler, executive director of the Virginia-based National Coalition for Child Protection Reform, said CPS will have no one else to blame if anyone on the ranch gets away with child abuse, now.

"Their blundering and their hubris created this mess," Wexler said.

He said the case exposed the broad powers granted to CPS agencies in most states.

"But the families to whom this normally happens are overwhelmingly poor and disproportionately minority," Wexler said. "They rarely have good legal representation. And everything happens in secret."


The opposite problem
In recent history, CPS has most often been rapped for doing too little to remove children from dangerous homes.

A series of horrific child deaths in cases where CPS investigated but failed to take action led to 2005 legislative reforms and an infusion of money to help the agency hire more caseworkers.

Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound, chairwoman of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, said Friday that her committee has a duty to re-examine the FLDS case to make sure state policy is properly balancing "protecting our children and protecting parental rights."

"Even though this was an unprecedented case on a scale unlikely to reoccur, the Supreme Court's ruling does raise questions about whether the agency is using its power appropriately," Nelson said.

Not everyone is critical of CPS.

State Rep. Drew Darby, R-San Angelo, praised the agency and the many volunteers who pitched in when the children and mothers were first brought to temporary shelters in his city in April.

"To say I'm disappointed with the appellate process is an understatement," Darby said. "I feel for the children. I just feel for everybody that has tried so hard to do the right thing, and then to have that examined from afar is just frustrating."

Darby said he is worried about the children's safety.

"Once they go back to the ranch, do we go back to business as usual and have these children subjected to what is systematic and institutionalized abuse, in my opinion?" he asked.

Sen. Carlos Uresti, D-San Antonio, has worked over the years to improve CPS and thinks the agency remains understaffed. But he said they were right in this case to err on the side of protecting children.


Religion and rights

Religious freedom has been a constant undercurrent to the dispute.

The American Civil Liberties Union cited First Amendment and due process protections in a brief it filed with the Supreme Court in support of the mothers.

But Dallas attorney Barbara Elias-Perciful, who runs a project designed to improve the legal system's handling of child abuse cases, said this was a case where children needed to be removed from their parents.

"To return the children now will send a message that sexual abuse of young girls is not a serious matter," Elias-Perciful said. "It will also eliminate the parents' incentive to make the difficult changes necessary to ensure the safety of their children."

The appeals courts rejected CPS' key argument — that the 460-plus children were members of a single household where a "pervasive belief system" put all female children at risk of sexual abuse and male children at risk of becoming adult abusers.

"Evidence that children raised in this particular environment may someday have their physical health and safety threatened is not evidence that the danger is imminent enough to warrant invoking the extreme measure of immediate removal," the 3rd Court of Appeals said, and a majority of the Supreme Court later agreed.

Three Supreme Court justices disagreed with returning girls who had reached puberty.


A chaotic scene
The initial cracks in the legal case came in late April at the 14-day adversary hearing.

Hundreds of lawyers from around the state who volunteered to represent the children and mothers crowded into District Judge Barbara Walther's courtroom and an overflow room while the judge struggled at times to maintain order.

The mothers who successfully sued to get their children back were represented by seasoned legal aid lawyers.

"The (Department of Family and Protective Services) was overwhelmed by the number and ferociousness of the lawyers," said Scott McCown, a former state district judge familiar with the case. "They just didn't have the legal capacity to meet the legal challenge."

The lack of involvement by Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, who did not join forces with CPS attorneys to defend the case at the Supreme Court, frustrates Darby.

"When you have this many state resources and this many people working for the good of children, everybody needs to be involved at every level," Darby said.


Little input from Perry
Even as the raid and child custody case were making headlines nationwide, Gov. Rick Perry had little to say.

His spokesman Robert Black said that CPS and Department of Public Safety officials, not Perry, made the decision to raid the ranch based on a call to an abuse hot line.

The caller purported to be a 16-year-old girl who said she was pregnant, had a 1-year-old daughter and was abused by her older "spiritual" husband.

Authorities now believe the calls may have come from a Colorado Springs, Colo., woman with a history of making false abuse reports.

Black said the fight to protect the children isn't over and noted a criminal investigation is under way.

"The governor believes these kids need to be protected, and they are not in a good situation out at that ranch," he said.

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Marina
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Postby Marina » Mon Jun 02, 2008 4:03 am

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http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,7 ... .html?pg=1

A new deal on FLDS offered

By Ben Winslow
Deseret News
Published: Monday, June 2, 2008 12:40 a.m. MDT


SAN ANGELO, Texas — A new order to return hundreds of children taken in the raid on the Fundamentalist LDS Church's YFZ Ranch will be put before a judge today.

...

"The judge has a right to enter an order, whether or not the parties agree," said Andrea Sloan, a lawyer representing a group of young women Texas claimed were underage.

...

"I think she's going to sign whatever order she wants to sign," said Kirk Hawkins, a lawyer representing four FLDS mothers."

...

The sticking point still appears to be a disagreement over whether the judge has the authority to impose broad conditions giving Texas CPS authority over the families, or whether the judge should just free the children.

...

"Some attorneys complained they weren't in on the discussions at all. Deborah Keenun, a court-appointed attorney representing 11 children in state custody, arrived as the meeting was breaking up. Others found out about the meeting from news reporters."

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Marina
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Postby Marina » Mon Jun 02, 2008 7:06 pm

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http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/P/ ... TE=DEFAULT

Jun 2, 9:26 PM EDT


Families separated by raid on sect are reunited

By MICHELLE ROBERTS
Associated Press Writer

Judge Orders Release of Polygamist Group's Kids


SAN ANGELO, Texas (AP) -- More than 400 children taken from a polygamist sect's ranch two months ago began returning to the arms of their tearful parents Monday, hours after a judge bowed to a state Supreme Court ruling that the seizure was not justified.

"It's just great day," said Nancy Dockstader, whose chin quivered and eyes filled with tears as she embraced her 9-year-old daughter, Amy, outside a foster-care center in Gonzales, about 65 miles east of San Antonio. "We're so grateful."

Her daughter and four other children were among the roughly 430 children ordered released after two months in state custody, much of it spent in foster care centers. Because siblings were separated at facilities hundreds of miles apart, it will probably take several days for all the families to be reunited.

On Monday, 129 children were returned to their parents. A church leader also said any future marriages would only involve sect members who were of legal age.

Judge Barbara Walther responded to a state Supreme Court ruling last week by signing an order that cleared the children to be released from foster care. Walther allowed parents to begin picking up their children Monday, ending one of the nation's largest child-custody cases.

Dockstader and her husband, James, were headed to Corpus Christi and to Amarillo to pick up their other children. "We'll get the rest of them," said Dockstader, who was clad in a teal prairie dress and clinging to Amy, who wore a matching dress.

Walther's order requires the parents to stay in Texas, to attend parenting classes and to allow the children to be examined as part of any abuse investigation.

But it does not put restrictions on the children's fathers, require that the parents renounce polygamy or force them to leave the Yearning For Zion Ranch run by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Late Monday, elder Willie Jessop said the church won't allow underage girls to marry. Jessop said the policy, which he called a clarification, will forbid any girl to marry who is not of legal consent age in the state where she lives.

"The church will counsel families that they neither request nor consent to any underage marriages," he said, reading from a statement at the ranch in Eldorado.

Jessop said the church has been widely misunderstood and insisted marriages within the church have always been consensual.

He would not say whether marriages of underage minors had taken place in the past but said the sect as a whole should not be punished for the misdeeds of a few.

Child Protective Services removed all the children from the ranch after an April 3 raid prompted by calls to a domestic abuse hot line that purportedly came from a 16-year-old mother who was being abused by her middle-age husband. The calls are now being investigated as a hoax, but authorities contended all the children were at risk because church teachings pushed underage girls into marriage and sex.

The church has denied any children were abused, and members have said they are being persecuted for their religion, which believes polygamy brings glorification in heaven.

Marleigh Meisner, a spokeswoman for the child-protection agency, said authorities still have concerns about the children's safety, and the investigation into possible abuse would continue.

The Supreme Court on Thursday affirmed an appeals court ruling that reversed Walther's decision in April putting all children from the ranch into foster case.

The high court and the appeals court rejected the state's argument that all the children were in immediate danger from what it said was sexual abuse of teenage girls at the ranch.

The Third Court of Appeals ruled that the state failed to show that any more than five of the teenage girls were being sexually abused, and had offered no evidence of sexual or physical abuse against the other children.

Half the children sent to foster care were no older than 5.

All the children, including any underage mothers, will be allowed to go back to their parents, though it's possible some children's attorneys or child-protection officials could pursue further action in individual cases.

It's not clear how many might return to the ranch right away. Many of the parents have purchased or rented homes in Amarillo, San Antonio and other places around the state.

Rod Parker, a spokesman for the FLDS church, said some of the attorneys have advised parents to stay away from the ranch for now, but most families want to return so the children can continue the education they were getting at the sect's schoolhouse before the raid.

Walther's order does not end a separate criminal investigation. Texas authorities last week collected DNA from jailed FLDS prophet Warren Jeffs as part of investigation into underage sex with girls, ages 12 to 15. He has been convicted in Utah as an accomplice to rape and is jail in Arizona awaiting trial on separate charges.

The FLDS is a breakaway sect of the Mormon church, which renounced polygamy more than a century ago.

Meanwhile, in Canada, British Columbia's top lawyer appointed a special prosecutor to look into allegations of sexual misconduct within a polygamous community there.

The a breakaway Mormon sect in Bountiful, in western Canada, has about 1,500 people including about 500 U.S. citizens. Attorney General Wally Oppal said the prosecutor will examine if there should be charges for polygamy, sexual assault, sexual exploitation or a combination of charges.

---

Associated Press writers Elizabeth White in Gonzales, Linda Ball in Fort Worth, Betsy Blaney in Amarillo and Jeremy Hainsworth in Vancouver, Canada contributed to this report.

© 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved

Marina
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Postby Marina » Mon Jun 02, 2008 7:23 pm

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http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,5143,700231123,00.html

FLDS official: No more underage marriages; reunifications begin with the children

By Ben Winslow and Amy Joi O'Donoghue
Deseret News
Published: Monday, June 2, 2008 5:00 p.m. MDT


Page: 1 2 3 4 Next >

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Marina
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Postby Marina » Tue Jun 03, 2008 4:15 am

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http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_9462173

Reunion amid doubts
As parents get their kids back, FLDS vow to follow laws on marriage age

By Brooke Adams
The Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated: 06/03/2008 01:09:12 AM MDT


SAN ANGELO, Texas - Richard and Susan Barlow had seven different options to juggle as they mapped out how to retrieve eight children housed all over Texas.
They decided to start in San Antonio, where several daughters have spent nearly six weeks, and hit the road - only to realize an hour later, that in the excitement of the moment they had taken a wrong turn.
No matter. They changed course for Midland, where their 15-year-old daughter Lydia was waiting for them.
"I thank the Lord for sure blessing us with this opportunity and pray that we can walk the path humbly and carefully," Barlow said by telephone as he drove.
Sixty-one days after the first children were removed from a polygamous sect's ranch amid allegations of sexual, physical and emotional abuse, a district judge sent them home.
District Judge Barbara Walther signed an order releasing the children without taking up two reunification plans prepared by dozens of attorneys Sunday. Two higher courts had said Walther lacked evidence to keep all of the children away from their parents.
Her order applies to all but one child: a 16-year-old girl whose attorney, Natalie Malonis, received a temporary restraining order to keep her in custody for at least three more days.
Malonis alleged in court Friday the girl may have a child that is being claimed by another
woman, though she could not say who that woman is or where the child is staying.
But most parents, members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, were picking up their children within hours of getting word of Walther's decision.
Attorneys for two legal aid firms who successfully petitioned to have the children released arrived at the courthouse at 8:15 a.m. and submitted their own reunification plans for the judge to sign. They worked over the weekend to draft it and gather FLDS mothers' signatures, which Walther said she wanted.
But Walther had already come up with her own plan.
"We're just happy an order's been signed. My clients are incredibly grateful and just want to pick up their children as soon as they can," said Julie Balovich, of Texas Rio-Grande Legal Aid, outside the courthouse.
Walther's order keeps the FLDS children under supervision of Texas Child Protective Services indefinitely.
Parents must agree to be photographed when they pick up their children, to be fingerprinted, provide identification, and attend "standard parenting classes."
They also must not interfere with CPS's ongoing investigation into alleged child abuse and neglect; allow CPS workers to visit, question and examine the children, both medically and psychologically, in their homes.
Further, the parents must provide a seven-day notice before any moves, and 48-hour notice of any travel more than 100 miles from their homes - and they are prohibited from leaving Texas with their children.
Rather than quibble about the conditions, lawyers who waged the court appeals talked about the reunions soon to be under way.
"The only focus at this time is to get the children home as quickly as possible," said Criselda Paz, of Legal Aid of Northwest Texas.

...

Marleigh Meisner, a CPS spokeswoman, said the agency was "very pleased" with the order because it continues the investigation while providing for the safe return of the children. She said CPS hopes to help FLDS families become "better parents."
The agency also still feels "very strongly" there is cause for concern for the children's safety, she said.
While the order does not prohibit parents from returning to the ranch, Jessop said many may take their time returning.
"We're leaving that decision up to them," he said, adding that some FLDS are definitely "trying to make the pilgrimage back."
Others are choosing to live elsewhere to show their willingness to work with CPS, attorneys said.
Andrea Sloan, an attorney with the Texas Advocacy Project who represented several women whose ages were disputed, said none planned to return to the ranch immediately.
Joseph S. Jessop Sr., 27, a father who was allowed to join his wife Lori, 25, and three children in San Antonio two weeks ago, planned to take a wait-and-see approach, too.
"We'll probably stay here for the time being and see how things pan out," he said.
Some FLDS had kind words for caseworkers and attorneys they had come to rely on over the past weeks.
"We felt like we met some good people with honest hearts," Barlow said.
Some attorneys felt that way, too. Balovich said the high point of the day came when one mother she represents called after picking up her children. The woman put the children on the phone.
"Hi Julie," they said in chorus.
"I had never gotten to hear their voices," Balovich said.

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Marina
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Postby Marina » Tue Jun 03, 2008 4:18 am

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http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_9462174

FLDS worry grand jury could come after them
By Brooke Adams
The Salt Lake Tribune

Article Last Updated: 06/03/2008 01:09:14 AM MDT



ELDORADO, Texas - Hours after signing an order releasing FLDS children from state custody, 51st District Judge Barbara Walther arrived at the Schleicher County Courthouse in Eldorado to swear in a grand jury that may be considering indictments related to the polygamous sect.
By the end of the day, 18 indictments had been issued, although no details were immediately available. The number was more than the usual; typically, five to 15 indictments are returned, a court clerk said.

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Marina
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Postby Marina » Tue Jun 03, 2008 3:44 pm

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http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent ... 1.html?npc

Judge keeps polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs' daughter in foster care

04:05 PM CDT on Tuesday, June 3, 2008
By ROBERT T. GARRETT / The Dallas Morning News
[email protected]

ELDORADO, Texas - A judge has kept in foster care a 16-year-old daughter of polygamist sect prophet Warren Jeffs after the girl's lawyer said she had been sexually abused.

Flower Mound attorney Natalie Malonis said the girl shouldn't be released by Child Protective Services under the same terms as other sect children being freed from state custody this week.

"There are no restrictions or provisions which take into account the immediate risk of her alleged perpetrator having access to" the girl," Ms. Malonis said.

State District Judge Barbara Walther of San Angelo kept the girl in state custody for up to 72 hours to allow Ms. Malonis and D. Timothy Edwards of San Angelo, attorney for Annette Jeffs, the girl's mother, a chance to negotiate with CPS.

Ms. Malonis said law enforcement has evidence the girl was sexually abused, though it doesn’t believe she’s ever been pregnant.

The alleged perpetrator is an adult sect member who has lived in the past at the group’s ranch in Eldorado, she said.

“It’s not Warren Jeffs. Warren Jeffs is her father,” she said.

Ms. Malonis and lawyers for CPS and the girl’s mother agreed today that the girl should be allowed to live in San Antonio with her mother, but be restricted to Bexar and surrounding counties, and have no contact with her suspected abuser.

Sect spokesman Willie Jessop said he didn't know what girl a reporter was talking about. CPS spokeswoman Shari Pulliam declined to comment.

Meanwhile, Judge Walther began receiving results of DNA tests administered to sect children and many parents.

"Our investigation is going to continue,” Ms. Pulliam said, “And the DNA testing is a very important part of that investigation."

While the Texas Rangers and state attorney general's office pursue possible criminal charges against certain men in the sect, CPS says it simply needs the test results to establish family relationships.

"That's a piece of the puzzle we don't have, to figure out who we're going to be working with," Ms. Pulliam said.

Gov. Rick Perry, who indicated last month that he was proud of the actions taken by CPS, warned through a spokeswoman that Friday's decision by the Texas Supreme Court ordering the sect children's release could result in placing youngsters in danger.

"The governor is concerned that the legal process by which the children were removed from their home is overshadowing the sexual abuse allegations at hand," said Perry's deputy press secretary, Allison Castle.

"He is very troubled that the children, especially those most at risk for abuse in this case - young girls - are being sent back to the very compound that is riddled with uncertainty, potential for harm and remains at the center of a very serious criminal investigation," Ms. Castle said.

The sect has denied there is any greater prevalence of child abuse in its ranks than in mainstream society. It says Texas swept its more than 450 children into custody two months ago in an act of religious persecution.

On Tuesday, teary reunions of the children and their parents continued across the state.

Ms. Pulliam said 229 of the youth had been released as of late Monday.

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