SAN ANGELO, Texas — Child welfare spokesman Patrick Crimmins said that his agency has asked the parents of children seized from a polygamist sect to name relatives who could take the children, but that all will have to be vetted before they could get custody.
The hearings, in five courtrooms of the Tom Green County courthouse, are designed to set up procedures for the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints parents to regain custody of their children and are expected to last three weeks.
More than 400 children were removed from the sect’s ranch during an April 3 raid that began after a female, who has never been found, called a domestic abuse hotline claiming to be a pregnant 16-year-old abused by a much older husband.
FLDS spokesman Rod Parker said the 168 mothers in the case want their children but would consider relatives an acceptable alternative.
When the hearings resumed Tuesday, Child Protective Services acknowledged that another three young mothers are actually 18 or older. That acknowledgment, following earlier admissions about four other young mothers, means the state has no more than 24 underage mothers in state custody, not 31, as officials initially said. About 20 others may still be reclassified.
Parker said the final number of underage mothers will likely be closer to five or six, though he acknowledged that some of the young mothers apparently were pregnant while younger than 17 — Texas’ age of consent.
The judges have not allowed much discussion of the validity of the state’s decision to take the children, but they have focused the discussions on state-drafted plans outlining the steps parents must follow to get their children back.
The parents have complained that the plans, which call for safe living environments, parenting classes and other experts’ recommendations, are too vague.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
