260 FLDS now dropped from YFZ custody case

SAN ANGELO, Texas — Child Protective Services has filed to "nonsuit" three more children taken in the raid on the Fundamentalist LDS Church's YFZ Ranch.

"From our standpoint, nonsuiting means we don't believe the family situation requires court oversight. There may still be some oversight by the department," agency spokesman Patrick Crimmins told the Deseret News on Wednesday, just after more filings were made.

The number of FLDS children nonsuited by CPS now stands at 260, including 26 "disputed minors" whom the agency claimed were children, but later conceded were adults.

The reasons for nonsuiting vary from no evidence of abuse, to children who have aged out of the system or parents have taken appropriate steps to protect their children from abuse.

Only one child has been placed back in foster care: a 14-year-old girl whom CPS alleges was married at age 12 to FLDS leader Warren Jeffs.

Hundreds of children were placed in state protective custody during the April raid when authorities responded to a call alleging abuse at the polygamous sect's property in nearby Eldorado. The 440 children were returned to their families two months later when a pair of Texas courts ruled the state acted improperly.

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E-mail: bwinslow@desnews.com