From Deseret News archives:
Foster care for Jeffs' apparent child bride
But her 11-year-old brother will remain with his mother, a judge here ruled.
"The court is concerned that the mother is unable to provide assurances she'd be able to protect the child in the future," Texas 51st District Judge Barbara Walther said while making her ruling Tuesday.
The decision to put the girl in state custody for a third time ended a contentious custody battle over allegations of underage marriages and accusations that Barbara Jessop was unable to protect her children from abuse in the Utah-based polygamous sect.
Three other families facing the threat of having their children put in foster care struck deals with Texas Child Protective Services shortly after Jessop lost custody of her daughter.
Texas child welfare authorities allege that at age 12, Jessop's daughter was married to Jeffs. Photos depicting Jeffs kissing the girl were entered into courtroom evidence.
Barbara Jessop, a wife of YFZ Ranch leader Merril Jessop, left the courthouse showing little emotion. FLDS member and spokesman Willie Jessop called the decision "barbaric."
"Who can tear families apart when there's clearly no evidence? They haven't had any evidence for years that there's been any marriages at all, let alone anything to justify what she's done," he said Tuesday. "It's barbaric."
Barbara Jessop's lawyer said he plans to appeal the judge's decision.
CPS claimed that Jessop was not doing anything to protect her children from men involved in underage marriages. Two of her husband's sons have been indicted on charges of sexual assault involving marriages to underage girls, and two daughters were married underage, CPS alleges in court documents.
"We need to take these children out of that environment and put them in a safer environment where they are safe from indoctrination," said CPS attorney Jeff Schmidt.
Jessop's lawyer, Gonzalo Rios, argued there was no evidence the girl was being abused since she had been returned to her mother.
"They're alleging things they didn't put us on notice about," Rios said. "It's fundamentally unfair."
CPS complained they made efforts to visit Jessop's Converse, Texas, home with no success. She also never returned calls and would not make the children available for interviews. Rios countered that Jessop was the only mother not offered a family service plan, unlike other mothers, and was essentially told to give up her children or go to court.
