CPS Investigates Reports of Children Left Behind, Turned Away At FLDS Ranch

Still, the custody hearings in regards to the children taken from the FLDS ranch are far from being out of the headlines.

Recently, Child Protective Services of Texas heard that there reports that there were more children that had remained on the compound. According to the FLDS’ lawyer, the social workers were barred from entering. They were denied access to the ranch because the social workers did not have a warrant. At the same time, the two social workers had a sheriff’s deputy with them. Still, neither of them had a warrant to search the compound. As a result, they were not able to get inside the ranch to investigate the reports. The custody hearings are set for next month in June. So far, over 430 children have been taken from the ranch. The judge presiding over the hearings felt that there was enough sufficient evidence to keep the children in state custody. So far, five courtrooms so far will be used for the custody hearings. At this moment, the children are being kept from other children to avoid what could be deemed a culture shock. In the case of the 400+ children, the culture shock is a great understatement. This sect is a fundamentalist offshoot of mainstream Mormonism. The FLDS broke apart in order to practice polygamy. So far, there are no ties between the FLDS and mainstream Mormonism. Warren Jeffs, the current leader of the FLDS is serving time behind bars in Utah. He soon plans to go on trial in Arizona. It’s been over one month since the incident in early April in which the FLDS ranch was raided. The ACLU of Texas had weighed in on the case and wants to see if the fundamental rights of the children have been violated. Slightly over one week ago, one of the FLDS elders sent a letter to US President George W. Bush saying that the raid on the ranch was an act of terrorism. On the ranch, there was a set of documents known as the Bishop’s List. This had the information on the members of the sects, how many wives they have, and how many children they have. The ages of the members’ wives were also listed. One member is listed to have twenty-one wives. Back in mid-April, three men from the compound had spoken. Neither of them knew that it was illegal to marry someone under the age of 18. For the last few weeks, this story has been making headlines. By June, this will definitely make more headlines.