"If there's any wrong done, it needs to be punished. There may be abusers out there. I have a wife, a daughter, a granddaughter and I don't stand for the abuse of women and children. If there are perpetrators, there is justice for them — and I mean Texas justice," he said.

But, Morris gestured toward his client and said he didn't believe the father of six was one of them.

"This man here, I'd have him for a neighbor," he said.

Some families are preparing to leave the YFZ Ranch, said Rod Parker, a Salt Lake City attorney acting as a spokesman for the FLDS people.

"There are parents who are looking at that," he said.

Others are seeking out family members to possibly care for their children — in Texas, Utah, or Arizona. The grandmother of 3-year-old Maria Johnson Jeffs appeared in court on Monday, offering to take custody of the child. She is no longer in the FLDS Church and has since relocated to Texas.

Texas CPS said out-of-state placement is not under consideration at this time, with the goal being reunification with the parents. It would only be considered if that is not a possibility.

The family service plans do not specifically say that the FLDS people must leave the community, or renounce their faith.

"Are you asking them to renounce the FLDS?" asked Steve Pickell, a court-appointed attorney representing 11-year-old Isaac Jessop Jeffs, during a hearing for Brenda Jessop.

"That's not what we're asking," CPS caseworker Missy McCarty replied.

Absent leader, father

Cases involving some of the children fathered by FLDS leader Warren Jeffs were among the first heard by judges. The absence of the father caused some hesitation when it came to identifying him, although Judge Marilyn Aboussie insisted on it during a hearing for Jeffs' 3-year-old daughter, Maria, and her mother, Shannon Johnson.

"Who is the father in this matter?" Aboussie asked at the start of their hearing.

"May I ask why the court is inquiring?" Johnson's lawyer, Jacques De La Mota, piped up.

"If he is the father, we would need to know."

After pausing, De La Mota replied: "The father would be Warren Jeffs."

"And he is a guest of the state of Utah," Aboussie said, referring to Jeffs being in prison.

"He doesn't have an attorney present, but he is seeking counsel at this time," De La Mota said. CPS workers said they have mailed him family service plans to review.

The FLDS leader was convicted in Utah of rape as an accomplice for performing a marriage between a 14-year-old girl and her 19-year-old cousin. He is also facing similar charges in Arizona, and a federal grand jury has indicted him on charges of unlawful flight to avoid prosecution stemming from his time on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list.