Hearings to determine how the FLDS parents are reunited with their children are on hold, pending a series of court rulings. The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services is challenging an appellate court's ruling that said the agency erred in removing all 450-plus children from the ranch. Austin's 3rd Court of Appeals ordered children to be returned to 38 mothers who sued over the decision.

The Texas Supreme Court had attorneys staffing the issue all weekend, but no decision has been made, a court spokesman said.

Nichols said that Texas is unique in the sense of the compound-like nature of the YFZ Ranch. She pointed out that CPS has a duty to investigate abuse, and a lack of cooperation doesn't help matters.

"What would you do? It's not like anyone pulled the trigger (in Texas) and decided they were going to go in and take all these kids. They were going in based upon that phone call for a specific issue. What they found just kept getting larger and growing and growing and it was a pretty big snowball," she said. "They had to respond to what they found."

A judge ordered the removal of all of the children, which has become a massive courtroom quagmire. Texas authorities are still investigating whether the initial call that sparked the raid is a hoax.

If the hearings go forward, Nichols expects they will likely become more like Foster's — individualized based on family. Foster said even with her 10 children, she felt the system wasn't individual enough.

"I think Texas is going to see a ton of reform to their juvenile code," Foster said.

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E-mail: bwinslow@desnews.com