Stories related to: sect

The hundreds of kids returned to their FLDS-member parents over the past 2 days did not include one high-profile child: the 16-year-old daughter of sect leader Warren Jeffs. The girl's lawyer pushed to keep her in state custody because she has been sexually abused by an adult sect member—not Jeffs—and the state was negotiating her release to her mother, the Dallas Morning News reports. More »

As polygamist parents reunited with their kids in Texas today, a sect elder said the church will no longer allow underage marriages. But Willie Jessop called the sect misunderstood and insisted that past unions have all been mutual. Meanwhile, tearful parents held their children outside Texas foster sites after a judge ruled their seizure unlawful, the AP reports. More »

The Texas Supreme Court agreed today that children from a polygamist sect should be returned to their parents, reports the Dallas Morning News . They could be home within days. The ruling leaves state officials with few legal options, though they could try to retain custody of some of the more than 400 children in select cases. Justices chose not to review a lower-court ruling that said the state had no legal grounds to remove the kids. More »

An elder of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints condemned the raid against a sect compound in Texas last month as a “terrorist act” in a letter to President Bush, CNN reports. Members of the FLDS have complained of the treatment of the families whose children were seized in the "intrusive invasion" by "a heavily armed militant force." More »

One of the teens taken from a polygamist sect in Texas gave birth to a boy today as state police stood guard outside her hospital room, the Houston Chronicle reports. State officials say the mother is younger than 18 and that she will be taken to a foster care facility with her newborn to await a custody hearing, the AP notes. A sect spokesman says the girl is 18. More »

The polygamous sect currently under investigation in Eldorado, Texas, has a sister compound in Pringle, SD—and it's making locals queasy, USA Today reports. The Pringle compound was started by the same leader in 2003, and is valued over $4.5 million. "They don't just open their doors," says the local sheriff, adding that there have been no abuse allegations. "It's a locked-down operation." More »