From Deseret News archives:

Texas judge asks LDS Church to monitor FLDS prayer times

Published: Monday, April 21, 2008 4:38 p.m. MDT
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Judge Barbara Walther signed court papers this morning ordering the DNA samples.

"The Court finds that an unknown number of males of reproductive age reside, or have resided, at the ranch during the probable time of conception of one or more of the children the subject of this suit," her order says. "The court further finds that an unknown number of females of child bearing age reside, or have resided at the ranch and could be the mother of one or more children the subject of this suit."

The order lists the hundreds of names of parents and children that are known at the YFZ Ranch, including FLDS leader Warren Jeffs, who it lists as being in "prison."

The parents on the YFZ Ranch are expected to show up at the Schleicher County Memorial Building in Eldorado on Tuesday to give a DNA sample. At the makeshift shelter at the San Angelo Coliseum and the Cal Farley Boy's Ranch, where the FLDS children have been staying since they were taken into state custody, children were giving samples.

The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services said it is still having trouble identifying individual children and who their parents are.

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"We're still not getting names," said child protective services spokesman Greg Cunningham. "We don't know who are siblings, mothers, fathers."

The raid on the YFZ Ranch was prompted by a phone call to a San Angelo family crisis center from a 16-year-old girl who claimed she was abused, pregnant and married to a 50-year-old man. Authorities have not been able to identify her, but said that when they went onto the ranch to investigate the complaint they found signs of other children being abused.

That led to the judge's order removing all 416 children from the ranch. Last week, Walther ordered that all children will remain in state custody.

Once the DNA samples are gathered, Cunningham said they will move forward with placing the children in foster care.

"We've got some of the placements lined up, but we're still waiting for some guidance from the court," he said.

Child protective services said the children will be kept in groups, including teenage mothers with their children and siblings grouped together. The children would likely not be going to a typical foster home, Cunningham said.

"It's a home-type setting. A majority of them would go to a residential facility," he said. "There are several different options out there."

Authorities refused to discuss how the children would be transitioned from the San Angelo Coliseum to foster care because of security reasons.

Outside the coliseum today, the police presence has been heavy. Texas state troopers, Tom Green County sheriff's deputies, San Angelo police and unmarked patrol cars have all been seen circling the large parking lot surrounding the building.


E-mail: bwinslow@desnews.com

Recent comments

Be sure to understand that the FLDS is a completely seperate...

Anonymous | Oct. 27, 2008 at 11:31 a.m.

I believe all these children were living happy lives. Maybe different...

Rondi | Aug. 17, 2008 at 9:24 p.m.

From what I understand about Texas Law. The Parents of the Child...

k | May 29, 2008 at 7:53 p.m.

Image

Texas State Troopers run the gate of the San Angelo Coliseum where security is extremely tight. Authorities have begun collecting DNA samples from children taken from the Fundamentalist LDS Church's YFZ Ranch.

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