Fort Concho: Tight quarters, fear taking toll on moms, children; exclusive phone interview

SAN ANGELO, Texas — Kathleen has been on "night watch" in a makeshift shelter here with 170 children and women for the past six nights.

"Many people came in here healthy and strong," the woman said from a cell phone inside the temporary shelter at the "Cattle Arena" annex of the San Angelo coliseum.

"I've been walking around and comforting crying, sick children," she said, adding that she also been helping overwhelmed mothers struggle to care for their children in their new environments.

Five women spoke with the Deseret News Saturday from inside the two shelters. They are the first of more than 100 women inside the shelters to speak publicly since being taken from the YFZ Ranch along with hundreds of children as part of a raid by Texas authorities a week ago.

The women, who only provided their first names, called and spoke to reporters at the Yearning For Zion Ranch, about 50 miles away, via cell phone.

Dorothy described the anxiety many of the children feel being away from home, especially at night.

She said 25 young girls have mothers who are staying in another shelter, yet Child Protective Services workers have refused to even let them pass notes to each other. That means she has had to comfort many of them.

She said the children have told her, "Please come and sleep on my bed so they won't take me. I say, 'No, I will sleep by the door so I can watch all of you.'"

Dorothy said workers at the shelter will walk through the crowded room among the children at night, which makes it even more difficult for them to sleep. The cots, cribs and playpens are side by side.

"There's no separation," Paula, another mother, said. "When we're trying to bed down the children and a child is crying, we can't settle them down. It's hard to know how to help each child. It takes a good one-and-a-half hours to settle everyone down."