Another 49 FLDS children dropped from state oversight

SAN ANGELO, Texas — Child welfare authorities are asking a judge to end court oversight of 18 more cases involving children taken in the raid on the Fundamentalist LDS Church's YFZ Ranch.

On Friday, the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services filed papers to "nonsuit" cases involving 49 children.

"That involves 18 moms," said agency spokeswoman Marleigh Meisner.

The decision to nonsuit ends the court oversight of the cases but does not end Child Protective Services' role in the cases "because they are technically still under investigation," Meisner told the Deseret News on Friday, adding that it was possible that more children will be nonsuited as the case progresses.

CPS has already nonsuited approximately 100 cases in the months since the April raid for various reasons. Either the children aged out of the system, the parents are taking adequate steps to protect the children or CPS found no sign of abuse and neglect.

A judge has ordered many FLDS parents to attend classes, undergo psychological evaluations and provide support for their children. Earlier this week, a 14-year-old girl was placed in a foster home after Texas 51st District Judge Barbara Walther said her mother, Barbara Jessop, was unable to protect the girl from abuse.

Authorities have claimed the girl was married to FLDS leader Warren Jeffs at age 12.

"Mother! Mother! Please don't let me go! Mother!" the girl wailed in a video clip posted Friday on an FLDS Web site. "Mother! Don't let them take me! They're not nice!"

Hundreds of children were taken into state custody in the raid on the YFZ Ranch when CPS and law enforcement responded to the FLDS property on a call about an abused teenage girl. Approximately 440 children were ultimately returned to their parents after a pair of Texas court rulings said the state overstepped its authority and failed to show the children were in imminent danger.

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E-MAIL: bwinslow@desnews.com