Polygamist Sect Child Custody

Guide Note:

On April 3, 2008, after allegedly receiving a phone call from a child reporting systematic physical and sexual abuse, Texas police raided the Yearning for Zion ranch, in the town of Eldorado.

Police removed 437 children from the compound, and an investigation began into the alleged abuse. The number of children involved presents a serious challenge to Texas authorities, and has led to the largest child-custody case in American history.

On May 29, 2008, The Texas Supreme Court ruled the the state illegally seized the children on unproven grounds of abuse. The children will be reunited with their parents.

Fast Facts:

1. Compound location: 160 miles northwest of San Antonio, Texas
2. Size: 1,700-acres
3. Built by polygamist leader Warren Jeffs - now in prison for arranging marriages with underage girls
4. Polygamy is illegal in the US
5. Part of Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) - a breakaway branch of Mormonism
6. Sect was the subject of the book, Under The Banner of Heaven, by Jon Krakauer

Initially, 416 children were removed during the police raid on the compound. However, 21 additional children were added to the initial number after a final count was able to be reached. The miscount is said to be due partly to the children giving different names and birth dates when asked on different occasions.

Testing was ordered on Friday, April 18, 2008, by State District Judge Barbara Walther. The testing is necessary, as some of the children don't know their own names and cannot identify their biological mothers or fathers.

Testing began on April 21, 2008 and was conducted via a mobile genetics testing lab. The lab was done in the parking lot outside of the coliseum in San Angelo, where the children are housed.

The first 11-hour hearing, on April 17, was halted within forty minutes as prosecutors attempted to enter the medical records of three girls into evidence, and the judge called a recess to allow the case's roughly 350 lawyers to view the documents.

The parents of the 437 children seized during the raid and the nearly 350 lawyers on the case were divided into two locations: the 80-year old courtroom, and a satellite courtroom set up in a City Hall auditorium.

On April 18, 2008, custody hearings for the children of the FLDS Church entered their second day. Only three witnesses testified. According to testimony, at least five girls under the age of 18 are either pregnant or have had children, and that some of the children had given birth when they were as young as 13.

Individual hearings to determine the outcome of the custody of each child began on May 19, 2008. The state of Texas is set to lay out some ground rules for the mothers to gain custody back of their own child.

State District Judge Barbara Walther heard arguments as to whether the children will be returned to their parents or remain in state custody. The State of Texas is asking to retain custody of the children while the case progresses.

The state's other requests include orders to limit the parents' access to the children; that the parents provide their addresses and phone numbers; that the parents undergo psychological testing and drug screening; and that all children be DNA tested to match them with parents.

Officials said that it is "normal protocol...to separate children from their parents during investigations into abuse and neglect." Individual

The investigation is exploring allegations of a pattern of sexual abuse against the children. A search continues for the girl who initially reported the abuse: Authorities say they aren't sure whether she is among the children already taken into custody. Representatives of the sect allege that the girl and the 911 call were invented by police as an excuse to raid the compound. The man whom the girl claimed as her abusive husband, Dale Barlow, was found not to have been associated with the compound.