Judge orders return of polygamist group's children

A judge on Monday ordered the return of more than 400 children taken from their parents at a polygamist group's ranch, following the state Supreme Court ruling that the state's seizure of the youngsters wasn't justified.

The order signed by Texas District Judge Barbara Walther allowed parents to begin picking up their children from foster care at 10 a.m. CDT.

In exchange for regaining custody, the parents are not being allowed to leave Texas without court permission and must participate in parenting classes. They were also ordered not to interfere with any child abuse investigation and to allow the children to undergo psychiatric or medical exams if required.

"We're really grateful to get the order signed," said Willie Jessop, an elder of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the sect that runs the ranch in West Texas.

The judge's order requires that parents allow children's welfare workers to make unannounced visits and that the families notify CPS if they plan to travel more than 100 miles from their homes.

Jessop said without elaborating that he had hoped for a less restrictive order.

The order comes just days after the Texas Supreme Court said Texas Child Protective Services overreached its authority in seizing custody of the children nearly two months ago.

The group denies any abuse of the children. Church officials say they are being persecuted for their religious beliefs. The FLDS, whose members believe polygamy earns glorification in heaven, is a breakaway sect of the Mormon church, which renounced polygamy more than a century ago.

The Supreme Court on Thursday affirmed an appeals court ruling ordering Walther to reverse her decision in April putting all children from the ranch into foster case. The Supreme Court and the appeals court rejected the state's argument that all the children were in immediate danger from what it said was a cycle of sexual abuse of teenage girls at the ranch.

Half the children sent to foster care were no older than 5.

The Third Court of Appeals last week ruled that the state failed to show that any more than five of the teenage girls were being sexually abused, and that it had offered no evidence of sexual or physical abuse against the other children.

Roughly 430 children from the ranch are in foster care after two births, numerous reclassifications of adult women initially held as minors and a handful of agreements allowing parents to keep custody while the Supreme Court considered the case.

It's not clear how many might return to the ranch right away. Many of the parents have purchased or rented homes in Amarillo, San Antonio and other places around the state where the children were placed in foster facilities.

(From the AP)

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The latest installment in the ongoing Soap Opera ...

At least the judge had some sense pounded into her brain by something and complied with the higher court's ruling that she change her ruling.

Now we wait for the next chapter ...