Another FLDS child 'nonsuited'

SAN ANGELO, Texas — One by one, children taken into state protective custody during the raid on the Fundamentalist LDS Church's YFZ Ranch are being dropped from court oversight in the nation's largest child custody case.

On Friday, Texas Child Protective Services filed to have another child from the Utah-based polygamous sect officially nonsuited, ending court jurisdiction over their case. Friday's filing brings the number of cases nonsuited to 287.

Approximately 439 children were taken into state custody during the raid in early April, when CPS caseworkers and law enforcement responded to the YFZ Ranch on a phone call alleging abuse. The children were returned to their families two months later, when two Texas courts ruled the state acted improperly and the children were not in any imminent danger.

Only one girl, a 14-year-old believed to have been married to FLDS leader Warren Jeffs at age 12, has been ordered back into foster care after a judge ruled her mother was unable to protect her from abuse.

Six FLDS members, including Jeffs, were recently indicted by a grand jury on charges ranging from sexual assault to bigamy to failure to report child abuse.