Little help is available for teens leaving FLDS Church

Police in the polygamous border towns of Hildale, Utah and Colorado City, Ariz., say they're seeing a number of teenagers who are fed up with the Fundamentalist LDS Church and leaving on their own.

The trouble is, they may not get much help leaving.

"One of the biggest problems that we have with the individuals that are wanting out is they're underage and there's not much we can do for them legally," said Gary Engels, a special investigator for the Mohave County Attorney's Office.

Engels said he is seeing people — mostly teenagers — who don't like living under the FLDS Church's increasingly restrictive doctrine.

"There are more people leaving this organization every day," Engels said. "A lot of them are wanting to leave willingly. They're finding the lifestyle they're trying to live under Warren's rules and regulations too restrictive."

Warren Jeffs is the fugitive leader of the FLDS Church. He is on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list, facing criminal charges in Utah and Arizona accusing him of forcing teenage girls into polygamous marriages with older men. Federal prosecutors have charged him with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution. A $100,000 reward is being offered for information leading to his arrest.

These teens are similar to the so-called "Lost Boys" who are kicked out of the border towns by Jeffs for unnamed "sins." After leaving the border towns, they crash in Hurricane and St. George. Some stay with relatives or people sympathetic to their plight.

However, service providers cannot help them because they're minors and runaways.

"We cannot harbor a runaway," said Shannon Price, the director of the Diversity Foundation which helps "Lost Boys."

The HOPE Organization, which helps people leaving polygamy, said its past experience with minor runaways from the border towns has not ended well.

"At HOPE, we follow the law and with a runaway we've got to call law enforcement and child and family services," said HOPE director Elaine Tyler. "With the last two we've dealt with they've gone right back to their parents."

Tyler said she knows of some people who are willing to shelter runaways and run the risk of criminal charges. She will not run that risk.

"I'm not going to be arrested for harboring a runaway," Tyler said.

Washington County Sheriff Kirk Smith said he is sympathetic, but helping the children fleeing Hildale and Colorado City could lead to legal trouble.

"You've got to be careful in helping these people," he said. "Because if they are a minor and you contribute, you've got problems."

While most of the teenagers who leave the border towns are not reported as runaways because their polygamous families do not want to attract government attention, it still becomes problematic to deliver services.

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