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Polygamist Custody Case Begins

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The Associated Press

Published: May 19, 2008

SAN ANTONIO, Texas - Some 463 children, from newborns to teens, forced from a polygamist sect's sprawling ranch in a raid six weeks ago and into foster care have been treated as a single group of abused and at-risk children.

Starting today, judges will filter the chaotic custody dispute into hundreds of individual cases to determine what parents must do to get their children back or whether parental rights will be permanently severed.

That's standard procedure for family court, but these are hardly standard cases. There are at least 168 mothers and 69 fathers, reflecting the polygamy in the renegade Mormon sect.

And the state still hasn't matched more than 100 of the children with mothers. The first of court-ordered DNA test results won't be back for two to four weeks.

The hearings are intended to individualize the massive case, but a Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints spokesman said the state has done the opposite. Rod Parker said the Child Protective Services plans for what parents must do to get children returned are identical except for case number.

CPS spokeswoman Marleigh Meisner said the state is using a template for plans but says they'll be individualized in coming weeks.

In a sample provided to The Associated Press, the plan does not give specific allegations of abuse of a particular child and repeats broad accusations made previously of the entire sect.

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