Polygamy Sect Moms Told To Leave Children

Authorities Allow Only Mothers With Children 4 Or Younger To Stay During Custody Hearings

(CBS/AP)  Texas officials who took 416 children from a polygamist retreat into state custody sent many of their mothers away Monday, as a judge and lawyers struggled with a legal and logistical morass in one of the biggest child-custody cases in U.S. history.

Of the 139 women who voluntarily left the compound with their children since an April 3 raid, only those with children 4 or younger were allowed to continue staying with them, said Marissa Gonzales, spokeswoman for the state Children's Protective Services agency. She did not know how many women stayed.

"It is not the normal practice to allow parents to accompany the child when an abuse allegation is made," she said.

The women were given a choice: Return to the Eldorado ranch of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a renegade Mormon sect, or go to another safe location. Some women chose the latter, Gonzales said.

The agency said they took this action after consulting mental health experts and attorneys who thought it would be best to separate the mothers from their children, reports CBS News correspondent Hari Sreenivasan.

On Monday night, about three dozen women, many of them mothers, sobbed and held onto each other outside a log cabin on the sect's ranch, recounting the way police officers encircled them in a room and told them that they could not stay.

One woman, Marie, said the women weren't allowed to say goodbye to their crying children.

"They said, 'your children are ours,"' said the sobbing 32-year-old whose three sons are aged 9, 7 and 5 and who would not give her last name. "We could not even ask a question."

She said the children at the ranch have not been abused, but she feels like "they are being abused from this experience." She said the children have been "have been so protected and loved."

The women believe the abuse complaint that led to the raid came from a bitter person outside their community.

Brenda, a 37-year-old mother of two, said CPS officials did not tell the women they would be separated from their children or why the children were removed from the compound. CPS also gave the women inaccurate information about opportunities to meet with attorneys, she said.

"We got to where we said, we cannot believe a word you say. We cannot trust you," she said.

A call to CPS for comment on the women's claims was not immediately returned Monday night.

The state is accusing the sect of physically and sexually abusing the youngsters and wants to strip their parents of custody and place the children in foster care or put them up for adoption. The sheer size of the case was an obstacle.

"Quite frankly, I'm not sure what we're going to do," Texas District Judge Barbara Walther said after a conference that included three to four dozen attorneys either representing or hoping to represent youngsters.

The mothers were taken away Monday after they and the children were taken by bus under heavy security out of historic Fort Concho, where they had been staying, to the San Angelo Coliseum, which holds nearly 5,000 people and is used for hockey games, rodeos and concerts. The polygamist retreat is about 45 miles south of San Angelo.

Some of the youngsters' mothers complained to Gov. Rick Perry that the children were getting sick in the crowded fort. About 20 children had a mild case of chickenpox, said Dr. Sandra Guerra-Cantu with the state Health Department.

Perry spokesman Robert Black said the governor did not believe the children were being housed in poor conditions at the West Texas fort. "Let's be honest here, this is not the Ritz," Black said, but he called the accommodations "clean and neat."

CPS said the move to the coliseum had been in the works since last week, but couldn't be done sooner because the facility had been booked for another event and had to be cleaned and set up for the children.

CPS also said about two dozen teenage boys were moved to a facility outside San Angelo with the judge's permission. "We don't normally say where we place teens," Gonzales said when asked where they were sent.

Monday's courtroom conference was held to work out the ground rules for a court hearing beginning Thursday on the fate of the children.

The judge made no immediate decisions on how the hearing will be carried out. Among the questions left unanswered: Would a courtroom big enough to hold everyone be available at the Tom Green County Courthouse, or would some kind of video link be employed?
Texas bar officials said more than 350 lawyers from across the state have volunteered to represent the children free of charge. Moreover, the 139 mothers who voluntarily left the sect to be with their children will need lawyers, too, to help them fight for custody.

The sheer numbers left the judge perplexed as she considered suggestions from the lawyers for how to handle Thursday's hearing.

"It would seem inefficient to have a witness testify 416 times," the judge offered. "If I gave everybody five minutes, that would be 70 hours."

In an unintended illustration of the problem, Walther gave the lawyers 30 minutes to break into groups and report back to her with ideas. It took almost two hours for everyone to reassemble.

The raid followed a call to a domestic violence hot line from a 16-year-old girl who said she was beaten and raped by her 50-year-old husband.

In addition to becoming a monumental legal morass, the case is proving to be a public-relations headache for the state.

Over the weekend, some of the mothers went on the offensive, complaining the children are falling ill and are frightened and traumatized from living in cramped conditions at the fort, with cots, cribs and playpens lined up side by side.

The secretive nature of the sect - and the indoctrination children receive from birth to mistrust outsiders - have added to the confusion.

Randoll Stout, one of the lawyers who plan to represent some of the children, said the youngsters "seem to change their names. Adults change their names. Children are passed around."

Betty Balli Torres, executive director of the Texas Access to Justice Foundation, said 10 women went into the San Angelo legal aid office last week seeking help and reported there were 100 more women who needed lawyers.

Attorneys began meeting with the women over the weekend. She said it was vital that the mothers be represented by lawyers. Otherwise, they could lose their children - "what we call kind of the death penalty of family law cases," she said.

A church lawyer, Rod Parker, said the 60 or so men remaining on the 1,700-acre ranch have offered to leave the compound if the state would allow the women and children to return to the place with child welfare monitors. But the state Children's Protective Services agency said it had not yet seen the offer and had no comment on it.

The sect practices polygamy in arranged marriages between underage girls and older men. The group has thousands of followers in two side-by-side towns in Arizona and Utah. The sect's prophet and spiritual leader, Warren Jeffs, is in prison for forcing an underage age into a marriage in Utah.

[zykracosmos]

This is obviously being handled badly. The state has created a situation which is impossible to process. Innocent until proven guilty is the law. The state should have handled the single case they had before seizing all the children of the community. If that case established that abuse was present, and more importantly, that there was a pattern of abuse among adults in the community, either by force or by compliance, then they have the rationale for such a wide-sweeping action. Because the community believes in polygamy and marrying of underage females, there is no rationale whatsoever for taking the boys along with the sweep. Whoever initiated this was acting on raw emotional reaction to a telephone call, which still has not produced a viable witness. This is not the way the law enforcement works, and I imagine the hundreds of lawyers signing up to represent the women and children for free can smell a fat lawsuit for damages against the state coming.

[mcdonaj3]

It is interesting that the press does not ask these women where / who the fathers of their children are? I thought polygamy was illegal. But then again, I thought sneaking across our border with Mexico was illegal also. No harm, no foul.

[jehovahwtnss]

I would very much like to know what country cpaide is from originally. He obviously has a very low opinion of independent minded women, so I would guess he''s from Pakistan or somewhere in Arabia

[kayanah-2009]

well to me i think it is better to get the kids away from all of them including the mothers who chose to go back. to me that is not a way of life you should only have one husband and one wife i could not imagne sharing my husband with alot of different women. and my children not knowing who to call mom.
it was a good thing to get them children away now, espically the young girls, i think it is just nasty to share your daughter with your husband i dont know what else to say but i am glad you got all them children away from them people! and good job to the women who chose not to go back.

[cpaide]

I really WISH all these weak minded women could move to Saudi Arabia where women have no rights, no legal recourse and expect to be treated this way.

Posted by captains22

so you thinking your woman in america have rights? ha, you are even more stupid than i can hope for. yes, they have rights to get brainwashed into thinking they are this despot housewives or soap opera stars. they have rights to have the men demand fake white teeth like the toilet bowl, fake long hair like the tail of a horse, fake boobies big like the real ones every woman has in my country. this is free??? what are you kidding me?

[beehive21-2009]

We the People of the US,in order to form a more perfect Union,establish Justice,insure domestic Tranquility,provide for the common defense,promote the general Welfare and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Texas your stomping on The USA,what you going to do, before this implodes ?

[blackyowe]

In the USA it''s innocent until proven guilty. Punishing these children and women is cruel. This is unconstituional!

[rwm2_2000]

Check out infowars.com if U want to find out more about employees of the Child Protective Services. They even hire criminals to workn their offices and now they are suppose to be deciding where to put these kids. IN my opinion their mothers should have custody w/o ANY interference from ANYONE!

[rwm2_2000]

It''s PITIFUL that we still think we''re free to believe in whatever religion we want to. We are free to believe in God ONLY if we worship like everyone else does. If we worship in some unexcepted way, it''s looked on as not being a true religion. So just keep on augueing among ourselves and someday we''ll have an OFFICIAL RELIGION to worship if we''re lucky. Otherwise, U can speak up to protect my and UR FREEDOM of Religion. Our Freedom to worship in WHATEVER way we feel is appropriate for US is what is most important to preserve. We CANNOT let anyone including our gov''t tell us what to believe in as far as religion goes. This being the case, these folks have a right to worship as they please and raise their kids as they deem appropriate W/O interference from ANYONE!

[truth1974]

I MEANT G A Y S CAN HAVE RIGHTS SINCE IT WAS NOT ALLOWED HERE!!!

[truth1974]

AND FOR THOSE UPSET WITH THE POLYGAMISTS, HOW MANY OF YOU HAVE HAD MORE THAN ONE SEXUAL PARTNER AND HAVE COHABITATED MORE THAN ONCE? !!! *** CAN HAVE RIGHTS IN THIS COUNTRY AND IT''S OK!!! BUT NO ONE ELSE, RIGHT??

JUDGE NOT LESS YE WANT TO BE JUDGE!!!

[truth1974]

NO PROOF YET MEAN NO GUILT!!

INNOCENT UNTIL PROOVEN GUILTY!!!

SHAME ON THE STATE!!! WHERE IS FREEDOM ADN RIGHTS IN AMERICA???

WHY ARE THE 18 YR OLDS TAKEN TOO????

WHY ARE THE BOYS???

WHERE IS THE GIRL WHO CALLED?

WHY THEY CANNOT ARREST THE MAN MENTIONNED IN THE HOAX CALL?

WHY ARE THE BOYS SENT TO FOSTER HOMES BEFORE THEY FIND THE PARENTS GUILTY IN COURT?

JUST PRAY AND HOPE YOU WILL NEVER BE ABUSED BY THE STATE AS THESE POOR WOMEN AND PARENTS?

[captains22]

These women are an embarrassment for all women. In no place in descent society can parents legally allow their young underage daughters to be married to and impregnated by *****, opportunistic, unconscionable older perverts pretending to be God-loving. If I allowed a man to do this to my daughter, I would be all over the news. If you did it, so would you - and rightfully so! There is no sane legal reasoning for this whatsoever! I really WISH all these weak minded women could move to Saudi Arabia where women have no rights, no legal recourse and expect to be treated this way. In this country, women have worked too long and hard to be set back by fools like this. I have no sympathy for religions and customs where polygamy is practiced. There is also no good reason any woman in the United States should be looking to a man to provide for her. In this country independence means you are FREE to work to support yourself. It%u2019s just pure laziness to do otherwise.

[just_mee-2009]

I wish to repeat a well spoken statement; The questions about polygamy and its adherents has never been about their legal right to believe whatever they wish, but rather foused upon their desire to do anything they want in the name of their religion.

Texas has taken a hard position and they should be supported and encouraged to hang tight. It appears the states of Utah and Arizona have not been willing or able to take the heat and responsibility of making sure everyone upholds the law including MENTAL, EMOTIONAL, SEXUAL and PHYSICAL abuse with those involved in polygamy. In many cases the government workers for the state of Utah especially, have broken the law to make sure women trying to leave polygamy don''t get away from the men or their belief systems. What happened to these supposedly God Given rights? Do they become null and void because a specific religion says we must follow the law of God first and that includes obeying your husband without thinking, no matter what? This issue could have been corrected long ago but has become a monster because these issues have been largely ignored. It has to start somewhere, GO TEXAS!!!!!

[cpaide]

they were forcing S.E.X. on LITTLE GIRLS and the mothers LET IT HAPPEN.

Posted by MyOpinion1

Oh the stupidity of these comments.

you have no solid evidence, as always.

you are in denial because you know that the state and federal government can make up some stories, come into your gated community, cut the doors off your house, take your children for no reason and there is NOTHING you can do about it! so you attack the meek and simple mormans because it makes you feel better.

you disgust me. i spit on you and your government. maybe we outsource you and your government to china and tibet to get rid of the dali lama and his followers. you are calling the buddists pedophiles also?

[donevis-2009]

Opinion1 - your already overloaded with your own form of brainwashing. Go work on your quilts and get off the computer.

[tropikbreze]

Amen MyOpinion1!

[rwm2_2000]

The law has discovered it to be a hoax yet they still are keeping these people from practicing and living their religious beliefs. RELIGIOUS FREEDOM IS GUARANTEED IN THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES yet all the major news media seem to not be able to see where this is an infringement on that. I''m not of that faith but if the law can do this to anyone then it''s an unconstitutional act. These mothers need to have their children back asap and the law needs to issue an apology and posibility pay a fine.IS OUR CONSTITUTION JUST ANOTHER DAM SHEET OF PAPER AS MR BUSH SAYS OR ARE WE GOING TO REJECT WHAT OUR NEWS MEDIA CONTINUES TO PROPAGATE? This is only one of our constutional rights being infringed upon but it''s one any legitimate news media should be talking about but so far all I see is about how they are so wrong. Well if it''s their religious belief we are NOT ALLOWED to interfere according to the CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES...SO why aren''t our tv and other news media even mentioning our Constitution? My opinion is they don''t want to be disciplined like the Dixie Chicks were. Are they chicken themsselves to present a true story?

[tropikbreze]

After reading all of these comments, one begins to see how these cults begin... America might be the land of the free- but there are a lot of whackjobs that should not be free-hence some of the commentations written regarding this situation. Thank God that someone is doing something to protect the childern. Come on, we all know the sexual *** has been going on in the compound. How else are the teenagers getting pregnant?

[donevis-2009]

I guess when opinion1 can''t face the fact that people in this country are innocent until proven guilty by the Law and not the Media. So she reverts to name calling and stomping around. "Go getum Grandma". Arrest the men that have broken the law, the ones that committed the crimes, not the children.