San Angelo, USA - Texas child welfare officials have dismissed cases involving another 24 children taken from the FLDS polygamous sect in April.
Marleigh Meisner, a spokeswoman for the Texas Child Protective Services, said the cases were being dismissed for a variety of reasons, ending the state's involvement with the children and their families.
Those reasons included children turning 18, parents completing court requirements and families lacking a history of underage marriage or abuse.
State officials initially removed 440 children from the ranch, alleging they were at risk of abuse. The Texas Supreme Court later ordered the children's release from state custody, citing a lack of evidence that all of the children were in danger.
Child welfare officials have now closed cases involving 100 children. There are 340 cases still pending.
A Texas judge on Tuesday ordered a 14-year-old FLDS girl - apparently married to the sect's leader, Warren S. Jeffs, at age 12 - back into state custody, saying the girl's mother was unable to provide assurances the girl would be safe in her care.
The teenager was placed in an individual foster home Wednesday night, officials said. It could be as long as 60 days before the judge reviews the case again.
The state also on Wednesday unsealed a search warrant that allowed authorities tocollect a DNA sample from a man indicted last month by a Schleicher County grand jury. The warrant, issued July 28, allowed Texas Rangers to take a mouth swab of Allen E. Keate, 56, to prove he is the father of a child born to a 16-year-old girl in December 2006.
According to the warrant, Keate entered a religious sealing to the girl, identified as "Jane Doe," in May 2005, when she was 15.