May 29, 2008 Texas court orders polygamist sect children returned

SAN ANTONIO (AP) - In a crushing blow to the state's massive
seizure of children from a polygamist sect's ranch, the Texas
Supreme Court ruled Thursday that child welfare officials
overstepped their authority and the children should go back to
their parents.

The high court affirmed a decision by an appellate court last
week, saying Child Protective Services failed to show an immediate
danger to the more than 400 children swept up from the Yearning For
Zion Ranch nearly two months ago.

"On the record before us, removal of the children was not
warranted," the justices said in their ruling issued in Austin.

The high court let stand the appellate court's order that Texas
District Judge Barbara Walther return the children from foster care
to their parents. It's not clear how soon that may happen, but the
appellate court ordered her to do it within a reasonable time
period.

The ruling shatters one of the largest child-custody cases in
U.S. history. State officials said the removals were necessary to
end a cycle of sexual abuse at the ranch in which teenage girls
were forced to marry and have sex with older men, but parents
denied any abuse and said they were being persecuted for their
religious beliefs.

Every child at the ranch in the west Texas town of Eldorado was
removed; half were 5 or younger.

"The moms are clearly very happy at the news that it looks like
they're going to get their kids a lot sooner than expected," said
Cynthia Martinez, a spokeswoman for legal aid attorneys
representing 38 mothers who filed the complaint that prompted the
ruling. "It's definitely an emotional day."

The case before the court technically only applies to the 124
children of those mothers, but it significantly affects nearly all
the children since they were removed under identical circumstances.

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

The ranch is run by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter Day Saints, which teaches that polygamy brings glorification
in heaven. It is a breakaway sect of the Mormon church, which
renounced polygamy more than a century ago.

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.

Texas officials claimed at one point that there were 31 teenage
girls at the ranch who were pregnant or had been pregnant, but
later conceded that about half of those mothers, if not more, were
adults. One was 27.

Under Texas law, children can be taken from their parents if
there's a danger to their physical safety, an urgent need for
protection and if officials made a reasonable effort to keep the
children in their homes. The high court agreed with the appellate
court that the seizures fell short of that standard.

CPS lawyers had argued that parents could remove their children
from state jurisdiction if they regain custody, that DNA tests
needed to confirm parentage are still pending and that the
lower-court judge had discretion in the case.

The justices said child welfare officials can take numerous
actions to protect children short of separating them from their
parents and placing them in foster care, and that Walther may still
put restrictions on the children and parents to address concerns
that they may flee once reunited.