Broken Ties

Seth Doane Reports On The Boys And Young Men Who Leave The FLDS

(CBS)  Frankie and the others say Jeffs began to systematically separate followers from anything and everything they valued. He will never forget the day his mother told him something almost unimaginable.

"And that’s when she wrapped her arms around me and told me that father had been sent out of the community. And it tore me up inside," he remembers. "He was reassigned out of the community. And two of my mothers were reassigned to another man."

Caleb, Hyrum and Simon all shared Frankie's feeling when they hit the outside world. "I was completely lost," Frankie admits. "I drank every single night a fifth of vodka. Pretty much a junkie life."

And according to Michelle Benward, they aren't alone. "I have the names of at least 450 to 500 kids around Salt Lake," she says.

But in her house there are only ten beds - just ten beds, and a helping hand for the hundreds of boys for whom the future is unknown and the past has simply vanished.

"I don't even have photos of me growing up," Frankie tells Doane.

"That's not uncommon. It’s not uncommon for them to come out with a few clothes on their back and some memories," Benward explains.

But with Benward's help, the boys don't seem quite so lost anymore. "We’re not really lost. We kinda found our own way," Caleb says.

Recently, Hyrum and Simon found there way back to their grandmother's grave in Colorado City. Asked why they wanted to visit the grave, Hyrum told Doane, "Pay respect to my family and show ‘em I still love ‘em."

Despite everything, these boys are still linked to their past-a past that rejects them.

"Do you still love your parents?" Doane asks.

"Yeah. I love my parents to death. I don’t care what they’ve done. I don’t even care if I see them again. All I want to know is that they are okay. All I want to know is that all those beautiful people I grew up with are okay," Frankie says.

"Really?" Doane asks.

"I wished it’d be different. But, yeah," Frankie replies, crying.