DNA Tests On Polygamist Kids Complete

Roughly 500 Samples Taken To Sort Out Family Relationships; Children Moved To Foster Care

(CBS/AP)  Texas authorities said Wednesday they have finished taking DNA samples from all the children removed from a polygamist compound more than two weeks ago.

Roughly 500 samples were taken at the San Angelo Coliseum where authorities have been holding the children. The state attorney general's office sent 10 technicians on Monday to begin taking court-ordered samples as child welfare officials try to sort out the complicated family relationships at the compound.

Spokeswoman Janece Rolfe said the testing at the coliseum was completed late Tuesday, but technicians are still taking samples from parents in Eldorado.

Child Protective Services moved 114 children from the coliseum on Tuesday to foster care. Eight buses with the children on board rolled out bound for facilities throughout the state, reports CBS News correspondent Randall Pinkston. Boys were on the first bus, then girls; some waved and even smiled.

Child Protective Services declined to say when the other children might be moved, but a half dozen buses arrived at the coliseum on Wednesday morning.

The children eagerly waved and smiled at television cameras, even as attorneys for the children complained they were not warned their clients would be moved so quickly.

A hearing was scheduled for Wednesday afternoon for lawyers representing the children to air concerns about how the children will be cared for in foster homes.

The remaining 300 children were expected to be moved on Thursday, said Guy Choate, a state bar official who has been coordinating the attorneys brought from all over the state to represent them.

Judge Barbara Walther signed the order Tuesday allowing the state to begin moving the children into temporary foster care while the state completes DNA testing and develops individual custody and treatment plans.

Technicians began testing children on Monday. The state added a testing site closer to the ranch, in the Eldorado courthouse square, on Tuesday.

Women in prairie dresses and men with shirts buttoned to their necks trickled into a stone building flanked by deputies to offer DNA samples. Results will likely take a month or more.

Arriving in pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles a few at a time, the parents came to allow technicians in lab coats to swab inside their mouths as they fight to regain custody of their children.

Their lawyers said many believe the testing is invasive and unnecessary.

"We've told them to cooperate, but there are a lot of people who are reluctant," said Cynthia Martinez, a spokeswoman for the Legal Aid attorneys who represent dozens of mothers. "There's a perception there that the state will be using it to separate them" rather than reunite them with their children.

David Williams, a former member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, arrived from Nevada to give a DNA sample.

Clutching photos of his boys, ages 5, 7 and 9, Williams looked at his feet as he said his children were "taken hostage by the state."

"I have been an honorable American and father and I have carefully sheltered my children from the sins of this generation," Williams said. He denied the children living at the ranch were abused.

Susan Hays, an attorney for a toddler in state custody, said many of the fathers are reluctant and some may have left the state, fearing that the tests are really designed to help prosecutors make criminal abuse cases.

The state won the right to put the children in foster care on suspicion that FLDS members pushed underage girls into marriage and sex and that all the children raised in the church are in danger of being victims or becoming predators.

The children have been removed from the Yearning For Zion Ranch, the renegade Mormon sect's compound in Eldorado; they stayed at historic Fort Concho in San Angelo before being moved to the larger coliseum last week.

CPS spokesman Darrell Azar said child welfare officials want to move the children to a more homelike setting.

"They need to be out of the limelight," he said. "Children can't get into a normal routine in a shelter."

CPS said in its placement plan - attached to Walther's order - that it will try to place mothers under 18 with their children and to keep sibling groups together. Some of the families may have dozens of siblings.

Walther ordered that the children taken from the compound be given DNA tests after child welfare officials complained they couldn't identify the children and parents. The judge ordered any known or suspected parents to also get tested.

All the children are supposed to get individual hearings before June 5 to help determine whether their parents may be able to take steps to regain custody or they'll stay in state custody.

FLDS spokesman Rod Parker said at a news conference Tuesday in Salt Lake City that Texas doesn't know how to handle sect children, and that efforts to keep them from being moved have been ignored.

[cpaide]

and i recommend the following good and honest study for more information on the filthy violent nature of this KLK:

No More Secrets : Violence in Lesbian Relationships
http://www.amazon.com/No-More-Secrets-Violence-Relationships/dp/0415929466/
"This study of abuse in lesbian relationships looks you in the eye and dares you to turn away. Far from being a prurient study of a fringe group of violent lesbians, this book demands that the queer community at large--afraid of straight disdain --recognize its accountability. No More Secrets illustrates that despite what many lesbian feminists believe, acts of violence are not committed solely by men."

[cpaide]

fibonacci_ is a founding member of the KLK (krazy lesbians kult), which conspired to provide a false police report that resulted in the raid on the Texas Mormons.

The objective of the KLK (whose members include the Texas social workers and judge on the case) is to obtain the humble, white Mormon children and adopt them out to infertile lesbian couples, and that is happening right now.

Once these kids are in the hands of the KLK, they''re told there is no such thing as too early for ***. Whenever the head lesbian tells them to go ''marry'' an old lesbian, that''s who they''re given to. They''re groomed to be pedophile fodder. Information presented shows that they''re given to be concubines (not wives - lesbians can''t have wives) at puberty or before, and have un-natural $ex while still children themselves.

[mercyme884]

Goodness Texas must truly be a wealthy state.All those DNA tests at $300 each how many parents and kids were there, four hundred children and there must have been three hundred adults and all required to have DNA testing. And then all the physicals for any child taken into state care. probably about $500 each. And all this money spent on the say so of a yet to be identified person who made a yellow=bellied phone call and hasn''t had the courage to show their face.I guess the Texas Taxpayers will find out what all this is costing them at tax paying time. My deepest sympathies to all them and their families.And my prayers to all these children and their grieving families and hope that they will be reunited very soon.

[missy_pithy]

I think one really big QUESTION is, where has all the money come from to build this compound? It has to come from something that is being grown or from someone, maybe a lot of someone''''s.
Posted by hbevis

http://correntewire.com/did_you_inadvertently_help_enrich_flds_maybe

I just found this information re: where the money comes from to fund the flds compound. I don''t know whether its a reliable source.

[perm3800]

Just read a stat in the London Daily Mail: IN England ALONE, between three and five girls below the age of fifteen become pregnant EVERY DAY. And the fathers are nowhere to be found.

I think what has everyone frosted is the age difference between the parties rather than the age of the girls. You keep seeing this statement on the boards about a thirteen year old married to a fifty year old. There is no proof of such a marriage. The age was derived by the items in the hoax call: Pregnant sixteen year old with a toddler already is married to fifty something. Folks did the math and came up with twelve or thirteen to fifty. The fact that the man noted in the call hadn''t even been in Texas in two years (and thus could not be the father of the baby bump) still hasn''t seemed to register with all these folks APPAULED!!!! that an old man was sleeping with a teenie bopper.

[fibonacci_]

cpaide is a brainless dipsh*t.

[hbevis]

THERE ARE ABSOLUTELY NO PROOF OF ABUSE OF ANY KIND...ALL IS MAY, COULD BE, PHONY CALLS...IT''''S HORRIBLE TO PUT THESE CHILDREN THROUGH THIS...WHY DON''''T YOU CHECK THESE PICTURES BEFORE JUDGING??

There is child abuse if grown men were having *** with little girls. There is no law that says a man can marry a 12 year old little girl..

[truth1974]

THERE ARE ABSOLUTELY NO PROOF OF ABUSE OF ANY KIND...ALL IS MAY, COULD BE, PHONY CALLS...IT''S HORRIBLE TO PUT THESE CHILDREN THROUGH THIS...WHY DON''T YOU CHECK THESE PICTURES BEFORE JUDGING??

http://www.captivefldschildren.org/Photos.php

HOW WOULD YOU LIKE YOUR NEIGHBOR CALL ON YOU AND HAVE YOUR KIDS TAKEN AWAY FROM YOU WITHOUT PROOF, WITH SOME TANKERS IN FRON OF YOUR HOUSE, YOUR KIDS IN FOSTER CARE WITH PEOPLE TOTALLY DIFFERENT FROM THEM, AS FAR AS 500 MILES?

HOW MANY UNDERAGE TEENAGER GET PREGNANT AND HAVE ABORTIONS IN OUR SOCIETY?

LETS CHECK THE HILLBILLIES AND TAKE ALL THE CHILDREN FROM THEM!!!

[hbevis]

I have read most of these post. And it sure seems that a lot of illegal things have been done within this Cult. Having *** with 12 and 13 year old girls.

My GOD, what is wrong with the Mormon church.

I think one really big QUESTION is, where has all the money come from to build this compound? It has to come from something that is being grown or from someone, maybe a lot of someone''s.

When we get an answer to these questions maybe we will be able to make more sense out of this mess.

[markcfl1]

I have four children and no one has accused me of being "partly sick". I have a Catholic friend that has seven children, I don''t consider him "extraordinarily sick" What is sickening about having more than five children? Or are you implying all these children were the result of child abuse? Maybe you can run for judge in Texas.

[perm3800]

Why is it a good thing for them to sit on their butts playing violent video games and posting nude photos of themselves on MySpace or Face Book but not a good thing for them to be working the family garden or collecting trash off the neighborhood streets or joining Dad in the family carpentry shop (gosh, didn''t Joseph do that with his kid???) This is definitely a ''glass house and stone throwers'' case. We have kids who video each other beating up homeless people or other kids so they can post it on You Tube. Gosh, those of us NOT on the Ranch are such shining examples of parenthood.

[perm3800]

For those who find the religion reprehensible, I have no argument. However, if persons are practicing illegal acts, they cannot use religion to protect themselves from criminal prosecution. Texas did NOT arrest anyone. They did not charge anyone. They got removal orders for the children on the hoax phone call. Legal, unfortunately, since it also means I can claim you are sexually abusing your daughter because I think she is too quiet and retiring and you give me the willies and they can come remove your mentally challenged child for whom you have been holding down two jobs to pay for her special therapies. And now you will have to pay the legal bills to prove that she isn''t too quiet, she is autistic and you aren''t creepy - you are exhausted. No way is a nursing infant at risk because a community believes in ''assigning'' girls as wives at the age of fourteen. No way is a toddler boy at risk because teenage boys who act out are exiled. Since they sent three dozen or so teenage boys collected in the raid to a boys'' ranch, obviously they don''t ''kick out'' all teenage boys. As to the child labor and other things people are ranting about, there was a time when families worked together on their ranches, farms and family businesses and it was considered a good thing.

[cpaide]

"This is just sick that 60 men father 413 kids"
Posted by cwazywabt

that''s just 6 each, which was pretty common in this country not long ago and is still common in much of the world. it''s not sick, it''s nature. you know: the propagation imperative. you sound like a whiny lesbian or something. am i right?

[markcfl1]

I don''t care, if you don''t care. Your opinion is meaningless anyway because its an opinion and its yours.

No one that has commented has condoned the alleged actions of these alleged men. A proper court can sort that out. Since you know it all, how many arrests have been made for your stated illegal child abuse? And, do you happen to know what the pregnancy/abortion rate is for children under 18 in your perfect world? You see, the difference here is the children are "married" and to older men, therefore it is criminal if it is true.

[perm3800]

Is this headline WRONG! The tests are NOT complete - the collecting of samples from the CHILDREN is complete. The test results will take some time to complete.

I do wish the MSM was more responsible in its reporting of this story - and that they would be more careful in their reporting of interviews with Ms. Jessop. All of her ''insider'' knowledge speaking of child brides is hearsay. She left the community LONG before they began the YFZ Ranch and before Jeffs'' starting arranging marriages for young girls. The only ''proof'' of young girls being forced into marriage is the case which landed him in jail and that child did not live on YFZ Ranch. Mr. Jeffs'' barely got to live on YFZ Ranch. While I believe that the practice continued, I am appauled at the way Texas went about stopping it. The age for marriage with parental consent WAS fourteen in Texas until two years AFTER the FLDS built YFZ Ranch. The collecting of samples is an effort to determine which adults to charge. Don''t we have a protection against self-incrimination in this country? While it may be the normal practice to remove children from their homes on even a light suspicion of abuse, they don''t normally clear out whole neighborhoods. Could the fact that these are all healthy, white, well mannered children who will be easy to place have anything to do with it?

[markcfl1]

To SusanHelit- The search was not necessarily legal. The plain view doctrine protects individuals against warrantless searches, i.e., a general search of the dwelling, but provides for seizure of evidence as you have stated in the case of the meth lab, in plain view. Warrants must be specific and it is my understanding this search was for a male suspected of child abuse (the male identified in an apparently illegal false claim). The records of births and marriages could not reasonably be consired part of this search and were apparently not in "plain view".

[Marie Zarankevich]

Mom1725 -- What you are describing is out and out SLAVERY, not polygamy. -- Houston, we have a problem.

[Marie Zarankevich]

What they''re worried about is that all of their ACTUAL identities will be discovered. -- You don''t seriously think every one of those men is there because of religious reasons, do you? -- Religious boltholes have been used by criminals for centuries. -- Perfect hidy hole. -- No cops, and no one sees you.

[mom1725]

Some people who think the FDLS should be "left alone" have forgotten why Warren Jeffs is in prison.....but his cult still lives under his dictates as though he were still there. Study their background - especially the practice of "blood atonement." Search the subject on the Wikipedia & "ex-Mormon" websites. Also Amazon.com for Caroline Jessop''s book "Escape" the reviews (especially the one by the Phd.) of those who have read her book will reveal a great deal. Freedom of religion is not the issue in this case - it is about women/child abuse, child labor, incest, welfare fraud & poligamy. Freedom of religion does not mean a church/sect can do anything they choose in the name of God. The women are victims and do not even comprehend that reality. The men in this cult who are very very wealthy (owning corporations with government defense contracts) have covered their holy butts by not having any records on their multitudes of "wives" and no birth certificates on any of the women or children, therefore making the ages of child brides very difficult to prove - or paternity. Neither will they report deaths. Despite the wealth of these men they are consequently able to put all their "wives" on state welfare because technically they are unwed mothers with no paternity records for their countless children who are also on welfare. It is tragic that the women and children must be dragged through this dirty laundry in order for freedom & justice to be served.

[susanhelit]

The search is legal, and this has been ruled on in the past by the Supreme Court. If the police, in good faith, come in on a search, find other criminal behavior, that other criminal behavior is still valid court material, even if the search warrent later turns out to be based on false evidence.

In other words, if you are running a meth lab in your basement, and someone calls from your house claiming to be held prisoner in your basement, the police rush in, find no one held prisoner, but see the meth lab.... guess what - you''re going to jail for a meth lab! It is a legal search, so long as they were acting on a reasonable cause.

Which is exactly what happened in this case. They even got a separate search warrent to get all the wedding and birth records showing all the underaged girls given to the pedophiles.