From Deseret News archives:

Children will stay in state custody for now

Published: Friday, April 18, 2008 7:47 p.m. MDT
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When asked the age of her sister's baby, she said, "I estimate two." She also said she has another married sister who "I believe she is 18."

It is the ambiguity of facts like these that has state child welfare officials concerned regarding the monumental task of sifting through information about FLDS families to determine when or if it is appropriate to be reunited.

On Thursday, a state child protection supervisor testified that inadequate record keeping, inconsistent answers and at times refusal to answer simple, biographical questions has led to roadblocks in the agencies ability to determine familial relationships.

During earlier testimony today, Susan Richardson, an attorney representing one of the children seized in the raid, said FLDS leader Warren Jeffs may be called to testify because he fathered her client.

Richardson today began questioning religion expert Robert Walsh about the personal and religious views of Jeffs when it comes to unions of underage girls to older men.

The attorney asked if Jeffs' personal practices of uniting young girls with adult men differed from the traditional habits of the Fundamentalist LDS Church.

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When another defense attorney objected to the relevancy, saying Jeffs was in prison, Richardson countered, saying it was relevant because "he is the father of a child I represent."

The judge then interjected, asking if that meant that Jeffs needed to be served with court papers because it may mean he could be a party to the case. Richardson said yes.

The religion expert, who has extensively studied FLDS sects and the LDS Church, testified that Jeffs is "somewhat indifferent" to the age of women as to when they marry. Instead, Jeffs relies on "when they have reached adult status in the community."

That can be as young as when they reach their menstrual cycle.

Jeffs was convicted last year of rape in Utah as an accomplice for performing a marriage between a 14-year-old girl and her 19-year-old cousin.

He was sentenced in November to serve two terms of 15 years to life in prison. He is currently being held in Kingman, Ariz., for trial in a similar case.

Also on Friday, a leading child trauma psychologist for Texas testified that the situation with 416 FLDS children who have been taken into state custody is a "lose-lose situation."

Bruce Perry, senior fellow at the ChildTrauma Academy, an organization that works in cooperation with a multitude of state government agencies to counsel traumatized children, was one of the state's chief witnesses today in the custody hearing for the children seized during the raid.

Perry said that if the children who were on the YFZ Ranch were kept in custody there would have to be "exceptional and innovative programmic elements in place."

Recent comments

Home of the free.

don | April 28, 2008 at 8:23 p.m.

But who is next? If they can remove children for being "potentially"...

Julie | April 20, 2008 at 10:11 p.m.

The FubarLDS have had ample warning to modify their practices to fit...

Dougway | April 19, 2008 at 10:49 a.m.

Image

FLDS women walk out of the Tom Green County Court House after Judge Barbara Walther made the ruling for the state to keep custody of 416 children taken from Yearning for Zion Ranch.

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