SAN ANGELO, Texas — Texas authorities executed a carefully orchestrated plan to force dozens of Fundamentalist LDS Church mothers into leaving their children behind in state care, said women who spoke to reporters at the YFZ Ranch Monday night.

"They said they were going to bring us together so we could see each other, and they lied," said Marie, a 32-year-old mother of three children, ages 9, 7 and 5, who were separated from her earlier that day.

"They read a court order and said, 'Your children are ours.'"

Marie sobbed as she wrapped her arms around a heavy log pole on the porch of a home on the ranch, squeezing it as if it were her missing child.

"I tried so hard to protect my children. They don't know that people hurt each other. They've been so protected and loved," she said as tears streamed down her face.

Women of all ages and children staying at two shelters were bused midafternoon on Monday to the San Angelo Coliseum. The move came after the Deseret News quoted mothers staying at the shelter who said their children were getting sick and wanted to go home. The newspaper also published photos taken from cell phones that showed the cramped and crowded conditions of the shelters.

On Monday, three mothers from the ranch petitioned Gov. Rick Perry to inspect the shelters to see firsthand how families were being treated.

Once the women and children were at the coliseum, state child protective services workers broke the women into two groups, putting mothers with children younger than 5 years old into one group, with the rest of the mothers or those without children there in another group.

"They told the children that the mothers were needed in another room, that we were going to get some information," Marie said. "The children didn't want us to go. They wanted to be with us."

As soon as the mothers were inside the room and the door was closed, police officers and child welfare workers entered, surrounding the women while a court order was read to the group.

According to the women, the court order said, "You are to leave this building. Your children are with us. You have a choice. You can go to a women's violence shelter or go home to the ranch."

"I asked if I could go say goodbye," said Marie of her little boy. "I told him I would come back, but they wouldn't let me."

Marissa Gonzales, a spokeswoman for the Department of Family and Protective Services, said the move was a typical procedure taken by the agency.

"It is not the normal practice to allow parents to accompany the child when an abuse allegation is made," Gonzales said.