Official: Sect Leader's Son Not Abused

Child Welfare Worker Says Warren Jeff's 6-Year-Old Son OK; Hearings Under Way In Custody Case

(CBS/AP)  A 6-year-old son of polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs did not suffer physical or sexual abuse while living with his mother at the group's Texas ranch, a child welfare case worker testified Monday.

Child Protective Services case worker Joni Manske testified during one of several hearings in which more than 400 individual cases are being considered.

The massive custody cases got under way Monday in all five Tom Green County courtrooms, with parents learning what they must do to regain custody of the children.

Caseworkers for Child Protective Services have until June 5 to have a hearing on every single child - 400-plus hearings to take place over a 2-1/2 week period, reports CBS News correspondent Mark Strassmann. For the courts, the logistics are daunting: To accommodate the 200 or more parents, judges in five separate court rooms simultaneously will hear 10 to 12 cases a day.

Texas authorities have 463 children in foster care, taken because of allegations that members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints were forcing underage girls into marriage and sex at the sect's compound.

Members of the renegade Mormon sect, which teaches that polygamy brings glorification in heaven, have denied any abuse and said they are being persecuted for their religious beliefs.

"Of course we want to say this isn't about religion," the sect's leader, William Jessup, told reporters. "I think it's sick and pathetic."

The attorney for the 6-year-old boy's mother, Sharon Barlow, objected to the state plan for her to get the boy back, saying it wasn't clear enough. Barlow, 34, must take parenting classes, find a safe living environment and undergo a psychological evaluation, according to the plan.

"This plan is so vague and so broad that my client has no idea what she can do now," attorney Donna Guion said.

State District Judge Barbara Walther agreed the plan should be more specific and asked Guion to provide ideas on how that might be done.

Walther asked Barlow if she understood if her parental rights were subject to termination if she did not comply with the plan. Barlow softly replied "yes" but did not testify otherwise.

The boy is one of 10 in state custody believed to be the children of Jeffs, the sect's jailed leader and prophet. Jeffs was convicted in Utah of being an accomplice to rape in the marriage of a 14-year-old to a 19-year-old.

Authorities have not identified the mothers of more than 100 children. Officials have been trying to group siblings together with their mothers as the custody case moves forward. So far, 168 mothers and 69 fathers have been identified in court documents, though DNA test results are two to four weeks away.

Strassman reports that many fathers have refused DNA testing, worried that the state might try and prove they fathered children with underage girls and press criminal charges.

Child welfare officials have complained that women and children have given different names and lied about ages. The agency has also struggled with identification of children and women because many have similar names, and some of the young women, who don't wear makeup and braid their hair, look much younger than their actual age.

As many as two dozen of the girls held in custody may be adults; authorities are still trying determine their actual ages.

Strassmann reports that some lawyers for the families say it's the state that is the real abuser.

"These children may be sexually abused. The children may be physically abused," Robert Scherrer, an attorney for one of the sect's children told CBS Radio. "There's a whole lot of maybes and what-ifs, but there's not a whole lot of evidence."

The children were removed from the Yearning For Zion Ranch in Eldorado during an April 3 raid that began after someone called a domestic abuse hot line claiming to be a pregnant 16-year-old abused by a much older husband. Strassmann reports that today that case was dismissed. No one ever found her -- or the child she claimed to have.

[cpaide]

"NOT A SINGLE ONE IS RECOGNIZED BY ANY STATE IN THE WHOLE USA. THEREFORE EACH ONE OF THESE HOLIER THAN THOU PEOPLE ARE INFACT LIVING IN SIN IN THE EYES OF THE LORD."
Posted by yongamerica

hello lord, is that you? i thought not. just another "christian" pretender.

since when is god''s law trumped by state law?

that the same lord who approved of abraham''s polygamy?

[slim1h2o]

Posted by yongamerica at 07:15 AM : May 20, 2008

I would suggest reading the news every once in awhile

[yongamerica]

"the real world" as you call it, is just as obscene and ignorant as any ocult as you can find!
Posted by slim1h2o

You must live in a completely different world than the majority of people. Perhaps you''ve been living too close to these cults yourself and have been brainwashed that the real world is bad, mkay?

[slim1h2o]

To help her adjust to the real world, instead of the obscene ignorant world she was living in.

Posted by RowdyTexan2 at 11:01 PM : May 19, 2008

Sorry to say that "the real world" as you call it, is just as obscene and ignorant as any ocult as you can find!

[wlmrtpatriot]

These people usually give one liners and cut and paste a lot. /:

[wlmrtpatriot]

http://www.scribd.com/doc/21722/2005-Expose-V-on-the-Child-Abuse-Industry.

I am so sick of the evil cultism in this country.

[wlmrtpatriot]

More of the same: try this one
http://www.scribd.com/doc/21722862005-Expose-V-on-the-Child-Abuse-Industry
You think bush is to blame for all this?

[mommakat64]

I''m making a comment because I have clicked the "comments" and gotten nothing. Why must the major network''s sites be so afraid to let "the people" in on what is going on....and what people are saying about it. This smacks of Russian-style news agencies.

[rudy654-2009]

Posted by wlmrtpatriot at 03:14 AM

If they don''t list Baptists and the rest of the so called main stream, then it''s not worth visiting the deficient website.

[wlmrtpatriot]

and some more evil cultism:
http://www.childprotectionreform.org/policy/trends/Michigan_SCF.htm

[rudy654-2009]

Actually they were absolutely correct to take these children out of a situation that could even POSSIBLY be abusive until they can determine whether it is or not.
*********
Yeah, you little dictator you. I really don''t read much of your krap anymore Rowdy, you are pretty much a racist with a fascist tendency.

[rudy654-2009]

Posted by RowdyTexan2

It seems like you need some counseling for the real world.

[wlmrtpatriot]

Yep this is appalling. Read this about these evil cultists..http://www.massnews.com./past_issues/2000/5_May/mayds4.htm

[rudy654-2009]

so that means she is a singler parent, getting welfare.
************
And you just happen to know this. Swell. You are crazy if you think that not having someone''s last name means they are on welfare. I bet you are on welfare, you fraud. You people make me sick.

[yongamerica]

The FDLS pretends to have multiple marriages, when in fact not one of them are legal in any state of the Union."
NOT A SINGLE ONE IS RECOGNIZED BY ANY STATE IN THE WHOLE USA. THEREFORE EACH ONE OF THESE HOLIER THAN THOU PEOPLE ARE INFACT LIVING IN SIN IN THE EYES OF THE LORD.

[cpaide]

"...this uniquely mormon teaching."
Posted by cpaide

sorry, it''s not unique to mormons. jews practiced it; muslims also; other mid-eastern peoples; africans; many orientals--pretty much every culture on the planet.

[cpaide]

"The FDLS pretends to have multiple marriages, when in fact not one of them are legal in any state of the Union."
Posted by yongamerica

that''s only because the issue has yet to be litigated. the various state laws prohibiting polygamy are certainly as antiquated and unconstitutional as the once-prevalent laws against inter-racial marriages.

note that the states dare not prosecute the texas mormans for violation of anti-polygamy laws, as litigation would reveal that polygamy is, in fact, allowable under the constitution. this would put the salt lake mormons (and mitt romney) in a difficult position, with no excuse for not practicing this uniquely mormon teaching.

[yongamerica]

Wonder if they''''''''ll raid the projects and get the teenage pregnant women out of there too!!

The comparison is apples and rotten FDLS eggs. The FDLS believes its religous beliefs over rule the laws of the USA. The FDLS pretends to have multiple marriages, when in fact not one of them are legal in any state of the Union. Therefore these "pure" people are really living in the sins they try so desperately try to shield themselves from.

The unwed mothers in the inner cities, and rich suburbs do not claim to be purer than the rest of the world like the FDLS. These women acted freely and some became pregnant in those actions whereas the FDLS women were told who they were going to "marry" and had no control over their *** lives, in essence being raped at the man''s will. The FDLS women are nothing more than *** machines. When an FDLS man falls from favor, his concubines are taken from him and then the harlots are given to another man. The women again have no say in this.

[rowdytexan2]

"the principle for taking the children was purely based on prejudice against their beliefs. That is a violation of due process and equal rights afforded under the Constitution."and nothing is furthest from the truth of the matter. The reason for taking the children into custody was to guarantee they had civil rights as minors in a highly prejudicial religiously intolerant situation. It is indoctrination and abuse to coerce a minor into *** and underage marriage, among other potentious acts in order to enforce the coercian of these minors,therefore the situation and homelife was abusive,belief system aside. Belief system does not justify the breaking of secular law, although many humans have attempted the use and creation of religions for this purpose, and financial gain, and power gain, and authority gain, Iwould stop and scratch myself now but I''''m female,oh why the hell not!


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Posted by soshljustic at 10:30 PM : May 19, 2008

I rather think under our Constitution that even a 13 year old girl has the right to decide whether she wants to be raped by some sick old pervert salivating over the next available virgin.

The United States Constituion not any place, any time, allows someone calling themselves a prophet of any religion to determine the fate of other human being, and punish them into obedience. Nor is such prophet, allowed to set himself above the law of the land.

[rowdytexan2]

If the child wasn''''t abused why does the mother have to have counseling?

This is your first witness against the state of Texas.


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Posted by cbscrash07 at 08:09 PM : May 19, 2008

To help her adjust to the real world, instead of the obscene ignorant world she was living in.