As part of the family service plans, the parents, the child, advocates and CPS workers give input. With 464 children in foster care facilities and their parents scattered in Texas, Utah, Arizona and elsewhere, some complain the interviews simply aren't happening.

Cynthia Martinez with the Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid Society, which is representing a group of FLDS mothers, said that for the most part, they have not been interviewed by child welfare workers.

"They've been presented with this plan and that's pretty much been it," she said Wednesday.

Haas said she has made repeated attempts to contact CPS caseworkers to set up an interview with her clients about the family service plans, but has never received a call back. Her client, Joseph Steed Jessop Sr., won a temporary restraining order on Tuesday, blocking CPS from separating his 1-year-old son from the child's mother.

Meisner said they are working toward the Friday deadline, but could not say if the hundreds of caseworkers involved in this massive custody case would be able to interview everyone in time.

"We're doing our very best to try to meet with the parents and the families," she said.

Martinez said the FLDS mothers who have received service plans have mixed reactions.

"It varies between our clients as to what each mother is willing to do and how receptive each mother is to the plans being proposed," she said. "All of our attorneys are working with our clients to review the plan and advocate on behalf of what each mother wants."

---

E-mail: bwinslow@desnews.com