San Angelo, USA - A Texas appeals court this morning agreed to hear arguments on whether the state can place more than 400 FLDS children into foster homes without giving their families individual hearings.
In a motion filed yesterday with the Third Court of Appeals in Austin, Texas RioGrande Legal Aid attorneys representing 48 FLDS mothers are seeking to halt foster care placements of FLDS children until their case can be heard. They want District Judge Barbara Walther to hold hearings at which each family would be able to respond to allegations of abuse.
“These families have the right to have their voices heard in the legal process,” said attorney Robert Doggett in a statement released this morning. “The idea that these children can be taken away without giving their families the opportunity to address allegations and fight to stay together is absurd.”
The appeals court will hear the matter April 29 at 2 p.m. The Third Court of Appeals consists of six justices who handle cases for 25 counties, including Tom Green and Schleicher County. It is one of 14 appellate courts in the state.
Meanwhile, four buses left the San Angelo Coliseum with FLDS women and some children this morning; a steady stream of cars believed to be carrying state child welfare and social workers also exited the site.
The first bus, with five or six women aboard, left about 10:30 a.m. Texas time. Ten minutes later, a bus packed with about 50 more of the sect’s women pulled out. One of the women held up a sign from her window that read: “SOS: Mothers separated. Help.” Shortly after 11:30 a.m., two more buses packed with women and some children pulled out. Before and after those buses left, 50 to 60 cars, each carrying three to four state personnel, left the coliseum.
Officials said about 300 FLDS children remained inside the makeshift shelter. In all, about 130 of the sect’s women had been removed by late morning, with 18 of them, with children 12 months and under, still at the coliseum, authorities said.
Child welfare officials said yesterday the polygamous sect’s children could be moved as soon as today.
DNA sampling of the children has been completed, but samples are still being taken today from adults near the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints’ YFZ Ranch near Eldorado. The Texas Attorney General’s Office says DNA samples have been taken from about 100 adults there so far.
The sect’s children were taken following an April 3 raid of the ranch. The raid was prompted by calls to a local family shelter from a woman claiming to be a 16-year-old FLDS girl being abused by her husband.
Court documents unsealed yesterday show a phone number used to make one of those calls has been used in the past by a Colorado woman with a history of making hoax calls to authorities in the persona of a young girl.