Last of children from sect bused to foster homes

SAN ANGELO, Texas -- The last of 462 children seized from a polygamist sect's compound in West Texas were moved out of temporary shelter at a coliseum Friday and bused to foster homes across the state, state authorities said.

Child Protective Services spokesman Darrell Azar said the last 260 children boarded buses Friday morning bound for foster group homes around Texas, most of them hundreds of miles from the children's homes. Authorities began busing the children out earlier this week.

Most had been staying in the San Angelo Coliseum in a setting that some lawyers for the children have said reminded them of the mass shelters for evacuees from Hurricane Katrina, with rows of cots and crowds of people.

Azar said the children were being moved to more stable environments so the state can continue its investigation into allegations of physical and sexual abuse of some of the children. State authorities raided the ranch, owned by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, on April 3.

To prepare for Friday's move, mothers were ordered out of the coliseum, where they had been staying to care for their small children.

At a news conference at their Yearning For Zion Ranch in nearby Eldorado Thursday, mothers described an emotional, rushed scene.

"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 FLDS members who spoke Thursday declined to give their last names, fearing it will affect their custody cases.

Texas officials allege the sect encourages adolescent girls to marry older men and have children, and that boys are groomed to become future perpetrators. Sect members deny the allegations.

Officials raided the ranch after a family violence center received calls from a female saying she was a 16-year-old girl inside the compound whose 49-year-old husband beat and raped her. Authorities are investigating whether that call was a hoax, but state child welfare officials say their investigation has uncovered evidence of abuse and that they responded to the call in good faith.

A judge awarded the state temporary custody last week after signing an emergency order nearly three weeks ago authorizing the state to remove the children from their homes.

The youngsters will be held in foster group homes around the state until individual custody decisions can be made. Each mother will get individual hearings by June 5, state District Judge Barbara Walther has said.

The women were given a choice to go back to the ranch or a "safe" location. Azar said seven went back to the ranch and 40 went to the other location.

Velvet, one of the women who returned to the ranch, said the others went with CPS, fearing they'd never be allowed to see their children again if they didn't.

Where the women chose to go has no bearing on the outcome of their custody cases, Azar said. The agency has said staff is working on plans to allow visitation.

In Salt Lake City, about 100 protesters gathered outside EnergySolutions Arena on Thursday night to support the FLDS parents.

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

The church broke from the Mormon church more than a century ago after the latter disavowed polygamy. FLDS leader Warren Jeffs was convicted in September in southern Utah for his role in arranging the marriage of a 14-year-old girl to an older cousin. A judge on Thursday rejected Jeffs' request for a new trial.