Eldorado, USA - Some members of the Fundamentalist LDS Church who were declared abusive or neglectful parents are fighting the label.
So far, 28 individuals have asked for an administrative review of Texas Child Protective Services' findings, the agency said. It came after letters were sent out over the past several months, identifying individuals in 91 cases as perpetrators of child abuse or neglect.
"Reviews are in the process of being conducted," agency spokesman Patrick Crimmins said in an e-mail to the Deseret News on Wednesday.
CPS said the reviews will be conducted by outside investigators who were not involved in the initial process.
"The requestor is notified that he/she will be able to make statements, provide information or ask questions at the review," he wrote in an e-mail. "They may bring a representative to speak on their behalf, and they may submit relevant written material. The caseworker and supervisor may be present."
The reviewer can request other information, but the process is not intended to be a re-investigation of the allegations, Crimmins said. Once a decision is made, both the alleged perpetrator and CPS are notified. If a finding of abuse is overturned, CPS must note it in its computer database. If it's upheld, alleged perpetrators can still appeal through Texas' Office of Consumer Affairs.
Hundreds of children from the Fundamentalist LDS Church's YFZ Ranch were taken into state custody after a raid in April, where authorities responded to a phone call from someone claiming to be a pregnant 16-year-old in an abusive, polygamous marriage.
The 439 children were returned to their families in June, after two Texas courts ruled the state acted improperly and the children were not at immediate risk of abuse. The phone call itself is believed to be a hoax. Only 15 children remain under court jurisdiction in what was once the nation's largest child custody case. The rest have been "nonsuited" after CPS found either no evidence of abuse and neglect, or said that parents had taken appropriate steps to protect their children from abuse.
A CPS investigative report into the custody action determined that a dozen girls from the Utah-based polygamous sect were sexually abused or neglected because they were married at ages ranging from 12 to 15. The report also cited 262 cases of child neglect because their parents "failed to remove them from a situation in which the child would be exposed to sexual abuse committed against another child within their families or households."
The FLDS Church blasted the report, saying that "the only real abuse that either women or children suffered was at the hands of Texas law enforcement and CPS."