Judge bars CPS from removing child from polygamous mother

San Antonio, USA - A Texas judge has ruled that a mother from a polygamous sect may retain custody of her baby -- at least temporarily -- even after the boy turns a year old tomorrow.

The order stems from a raid last month on a West Texas ranch run by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which is based on the Arizona-Utah border.

Close to 500 juveniles under 17 were removed from the ranch by the state, which argues they were endangered by underage and polygamous spiritual marriages.

Mothers with children younger than a year have been allowed to stay with them, but older children have been taken from their mothers and placed in foster care.

Meanwhile, Texas officials say another sect member who recently gave birth actually is an adult, as she has been claiming, not a minor.