FLDS hearings advance amid confusion, angst

The reclassification calls into question the number of underage mothers that Texas authorities have claimed they have.

Recusal

Dan and Louisa Jessop's lawyers tried to get Walther to recuse herself from the massive child custody case. Walther was the judge who gave the order placing all of the children in state custody. In this case, she was asked to step away from the Jessop case because of an order she issued putting Louisa Jessop's baby in state custody. The motion was denied.

"That was a very uphill battle, but it did expose some issues with the way the hearings have been handled," said Parker.

During another hearing for the Jessop's other children, CPS caseworkers acknowledged that the children — 3-year-old Amber and 2-year-old Rulon — are not doing well in foster care. The children have become withdrawn and have not been eating or sleeping well.

Judge Tom Gossett ordered CPS to come up with a plan to bring the siblings together, and acknowledged that the family service plans were overly broad.

"I know a wide loop was thrown around everyone in this order," he said Tuesday. "Around all the children."

'Sarah'

CPS attorneys have dismissed the custody action involving a child alleged to belong to Sarah Jessop and Dale Evans Barlow.

"To our knowledge, we don't have that baby in custody," said Meisner.

Sarah is the name of the 16-year-old girl who called in to a family crisis shelter here, claiming she was pregnant and in an abusive, polygamous marriage to a man named Dale Evans Barlow. That call prompted the raid on the YFZ Ranch and the removal of all of the FLDS children.

Authorities continue to investigate if the call was a hoax; a Colorado woman has been named as a "person of interest" in the investigation and was arrested on similar charges. A warrant for Barlow, who lives in Colorado City, Ariz., has been dropped.

A custody action involving "Sarah" herself has yet to hit court, but it will likely result in a dismissal.

"To our knowledge, we can't identify that we have her," Meisner said.

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E-mail: bwinslow@desnews.com; amyjoi@desnews.com