FLDS custody case officially ends in Texas

The nation's largest child-custody case has ended quietly with a judge's order.

The battle for children from the Utah-based Fundamentalist LDS Church's ranch in Eldorado, Texas, was over Thursday when a judge signed an order effectively ending court oversight of a 15-year-old girl. She was the last of the 439 children taken into state protective custody when Texas child-welfare authorities raided the ranch last year.

"The court has stated that they will no longer continue to review the placement, progress and welfare of the child," said Valerie Malara, a lawyer representing the girl's mother, Barbara Jessop. "The attorney ad litem is dismissed out of the case, CASA's dismissed out of the case, and the state is out of the case as well."

The order, signed Thursday by 51st District Judge Barbara Walther, places the girl in the custody of her aunt. Her parents, YFZ Ranch leader Merril Jessop and Barbara Jessop, will have visitation. The aunt, Naomi Carlisle, can determine how much that will be.

A copy of the order, obtained by KSL Newsradio on Thursday, prohibited the girl from having any contact with FLDS leader Warren Jeffs.

The girl is alleged to have been married at age 12 to Jeffs. She was ordered back into foster care last year after Walther ruled Barbara Jessop failed to protect her from abuse. At one point, Texas Child Protective Services sought to have "permanent managing conservatorship" over the girl.

"I think it took everybody coming to their senses that this child belongs back with her family," Malara said. "Even though people may not agree with the FLDS doctrine, the child wanted to be back with her family and her community."

Approximately 439 children were removed from the YFZ Ranch in April 2008 when CPS responded to a call from someone claiming to be a pregnant 16-year-old trapped in an abusive, polygamous marriage to an older man. The call is now regarded as a hoax, but authorities say that once on site, they found other evidence of abuse.

Texas made a case of a culture of abuse at the ranch, with girls groomed to become child brides and boys groomed to be sexual predators. However, the Texas Supreme Court ruled the state acted improperly and that the children were not at immediate risk of abuse.

On Thursday, CPS officials stood by their actions.