Polygamous sect moms separated from kids

updated 3:48 p.m. ET April 25, 2008

SAN ANGELO, Texas - All 462 children removed from a polygamist sect's compound in West Texas have been moved out of a coliseum and bused to foster homes across the state.

The last 260 children boarded buses Friday morning bound for foster group homes, said Darrell Azar, spokesman for Child Protective Services. Some of the homes are hundreds of miles from San Angelo, including Houston, 500 miles away.

Texas officials decided foster facilities are a more stable environment so the state can continue its investigation into allegations that the children's parents engaged in physical and sexual abuse. Sect mothers described an emotional, rushed scene when they were forced from the shelter where they had been staying with their young children since the state removed them from their homes.

“My two oldest were just terrified and they clung to me saying, ‘Mother, mother, we want to go with you,’” said Ruth, her voice breaking as she began to cry. She and other members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints who spoke outside the sect’s ranch Thursday declined to give their last names, fearing it will affect their custody cases.

Dozens of mothers were bused away from their children on Thursday after their legal efforts to stay united were rejected.

One woman held a handwritten sign out the bus window that read: “SOS. Mothers separated. Help.”

“There are no words to describe how it was,” said Velvet, a mother who was forced to leave her 13-month old. “We’ve been staying up nights to watch over the children because we didn’t know what would happen.”

'Free the children'
In Salt Lake City, about 100 protesters gathered outside EnergySolutions Arena on Thursday night to support the FLDS parents who have been fighting accusations of abuse within the sect since their ranch was raided April 3.

The protesters held signs that read “Free the Children” and “Got Constitution?” and chanted “Shame on Texas; free those kids!” as fans walked by on their way to the NBA playoff game between the Houston Rockets and the Utah Jazz.

“My heart’s breaking for those kids,” said Kathleen Tucker, 58, who attended with her daughter and four grandchildren.

Tucker said she was not affiliated with the FLDS church but felt the families’ religious freedoms were violated.

“How in the world can they do that? How can the state do that?” she asked.

Earlier in the day, Texas’ 3rd Court of Appeals rejected the mothers’ pleas to immediately stop authorities from busing the children taken from the ranch to foster homes.

The Austin-based court agreed to hear arguments Tuesday, but attorney Robert Doggett, who represents 48 mothers, said that “having a hearing after the fact” was pointless.

“It could very well be there’s some good reasons to remove some of those children, absolutely,” Doggett said. “But to suggest all of them be painted with this broad brush because they belong to a particular religion is a very dangerous thing, and that’s why we have courts.”

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