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Sect kids head for foster care
23/04/2008 07:26 - (SA)
Eldorado - A judge gave Texas child welfare officials permission on Tuesday to move children taken from a polygamist sect into foster care, while authorities continued taking DNA samples from sect members to sort out the children's lineage.
The state has custody of 437 children taken from a Texas compound more than two weeks ago, and nearly all have been housed at a coliseum since then.
State District Judge Barbara Walther signed an order on Tuesday allowing Child Protective Services officials to begin moving the children into temporary foster care, most likely group homes or privately run facilities, until individual custody hearings can be held.
Officials said they will try to keep siblings together when possible, though some polygamous families may have dozens of siblings.
Cynthia Martinez, a spokesperson for the Legal Aid attorneys representing dozens of parents, said buses were lined up at the coliseum, but she was unsure whether any children were being moved.
CPS officials declined comment.
DNA testing
On the second day of court-ordered DNA testing of ranch residents, sect members moved through the courthouse square as a handful of deputies stood guard.
A judge ordered last week that the DNA be taken to help determine the parentage of the children, many of whom were unable to describe their lineage. Some of the adults have been ordered by the state to submit to testing; others are being asked to do so voluntarily.
Authorities believe the sect forces underage girls into marriages with older men. No one has been arrested, but a warrant has been issued for member Dale Barlow, a convicted sex offender who has said he has not been to the Texas site in years.
Rod Parker, an attorney for the FLDS, said he is afraid authorities secretly intend to use the DNA to build criminal cases against members of the group. But state Child Protective services spokesperson Greg Cunningham said: "We're not involved in the criminal investigation. That's not our objective."
Ten lab technicians hired by the state spent Monday collecting samples at the coliseum and fairgrounds serving as a shelter for the children who were removed from their Eldorado compound during an April 3 raid.
All men referred to as 'uncles'
Some technicians were to be sent to the compound on Tuesday to collect samples from the possible parents. Family relationships are immensely tangled within the sect, where multiple mothers live in the same household and children refer to all men in the community as "uncles".
Authorities say they need to figure the family relationships out before they begin custody hearings to determine which children may have been abused and need to be permanently removed from the sect compound, and which ones can be safely returned to the fold. For now, they're all in state custody because child welfare officials believe sexual abuse has occurred or could occur imminently because of the teachings of the sect.
State social workers have complained that sect members have offered different names and ages and had difficulty identifying their mothers.
Parker acknowledged that family names within the sect can be confusing, but said: "No one is trying to deceive anyone. ... It's not sinister."
Instead, he said that because many of the sect's marriages are not legal, adults and their children may legally have one name but use another within the community.
- AP
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