Deseret News | Ruling: Some FLDS children must go back; dissent says teenage girls remain at risk

Ruling: Some FLDS children must go back; dissent says teenage girls remain at risk

CPS will work toward 'prompt and orderly' reunification

By Ben Winslow, Linda Thomson and Amy Joi O'Donoghue
Deseret News

Published: Thursday, May 29, 2008 5:06 p.m. MDT

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The Texas Supreme Court has ruled that the removal of FLDS children from the YFZ Ranch was unwarranted — and the decision to take them was an abuse of judicial discretion.

The decision today comes after Texas RioGrande Legal Aid filed a writ of mandamus in the Third Court of Appeals on behalf of 38 mothers.

In its ruling, the high court said that state law gave the lower court broad authority to protect children "short of separating them from their parents and placing them in foster care," including removing alleged perpetrators from a child's home and preventing the removal of a child from the jurisdiction of the investigating agency.

Those options were not embraced, the court said in affirming an appellate court last week, saying Child Protective Services failed to show an immediate danger to the more than 400 children swept up from the Yearning For Zion Ranch nearly two months ago.

"On the record before us, removal of the children was not warranted," the justices said in their ruling issued in Austin, Texas.

Rod Parker, a Salt Lake City attorney acting as a spokesman for the FLDS, said today's ruling is vindication for the FLDS and called on Texas to "lay down arms."

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The dissenting opinion, in the nine-member ruling, did say while it agreed the trial court erred in removing boys and pre-pubescent girls from the ranch, it believed teenage girls remain in jeopardy at the YFZ Ranch because of a pattern of sexual abuse.

In a statement made this afternoon, FLDS member Willie Jessop said members were emerging from a nightmare and urged the state of Texas to put the families back together. "I know that there is hope and it will be a great, great day when there are fathers and mothers hugging little children that were ripped away from them."

A spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services told the Desert News their attorneys were reviewing the case.

"We are disappointed but we understand and respect the court's decision and will take immediate steps to comply," said Marleigh Meisner. "Child protective services has one purpose in this case — to protect the children. Our goal is to reunite families and make sure the children will be safe. We will continue to prepare for the prompt and orderly reunification of these children with their families. We will also work with the district court to ensure the safety of the children and that all of our actions conform with the decision of the Texas Supreme Court."

Lawyers for the mothers said the Supreme Court's ruling still allows child welfare authorities to conduct an investigation but "they have to go about it the correct way," said Cynthia Martinez, with the Texas RioGrande Legal Aid Society. The decision gets the children out of foster care facilities as soon as it can be coordinated with the courts.