Reunion Delayed For Sect Youths, Moms

SAN ANGELO, Texas - Parents' hopes of quick reunions with more than 400 children removed from a polygamist sect's ranch were dashed Friday after their attorneys and a judge clashed over proposed restrictions.

A decision by Texas District Judge Barbara Walther means that to regain custody, the 38 mothers who filed the complaint that led the Texas Supreme Court to reject the state's massive seizure must personally sign an agreement that their attorneys and state child-welfare officials have proposed.

That could add days to the process, attorneys for the mothers said, because the women are scattered across the state to be close to their children in foster care.

"It's not as simple as going across the street and setting up a booth," said attorney Andrea Sloan, who represents several young sect women and minors who contend they should be reclassified as adults.

Walther had wanted to add restrictions to the agreement worked out by the parents' attorneys and Texas Child Protective Services, but the parents' attorneys argued that she didn't have the authority.

The judge then said she would sign the initial document but only after all 38 mothers involved in the case signed it.

State officials had said earlier that children could start being returned Monday, but attorneys for the parents said the new requirement could delay reunions by days.

The high court on Thursday affirmed an appeals court ruling ordering Walther to reverse her decision last month to put all children from the Yearning For Zion Ranch into foster care. 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.

The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which runs the west Texas ranch, denies any abuse of the children, who were seized in a raid nearly two months ago. Church officials say they are being persecuted for their religious beliefs.

A draft agreement released by child care agency attorney Gary Banks earlier Friday said the parents could get their children back beginning Monday after showing identification and pledging to take parenting classes and stay in Texas.

State officials had reached the tentative agreement with the 38 mothers, who have 124 children in custody, and had agreed that the order would be extended to all but a few specific children.

The last-minute snag was a blow to parents who had thought hundreds of happy reunions were imminent.

Under the deal Child Protective Services released, the families won't be able to leave Texas until Aug. 31 but would be allowed to move back to the ranch. It also calls for visits by child welfare representatives to interview children and parents in the child abuse investigation.

Walther wanted to remove the August deadline and provide for psychological evaluations of the children. She also wanted Child Protective Services to have access to the ranch and children at any time necessary for investigation.