Meeting on kids' fate gets nowhere

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SAN ANGELO, Texas - Hundreds of children of a polygamous sect were no closer to going home Friday when 51st District Judge Barbara Walther left the bench without abandoning her order keeping them in state custody.

Two higher courts have told Walther to do so.

But the judge abruptly ended a four-hour conference with attorneys after being challenged about changes she made to a negotiated plan to return the FLDS children home.

Before leaving the courtroom, Walther told attorneys to work on an agreement and get it signed by the 38 mothers who appealed her earlier order holding the children in state custody - something that will take days, lawyers said.

That "essentially incarcerates the children and the mothers of our children for another 48 hours," said Laura Shockley, a Dallas attorney, moments after startled lawyers filed out of the Tom Green County Courthouse.

Texas child welfare workers have alleged that the sect promotes marriage between underage girls and older men, and that boys are groomed to continue the practice.

About 450 children taken from the YFZ Ranch, home to members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, remain for now in shelters across Texas.

The children were taken from the YFZ Ranch in Eldorado between April 3 and April 5, based on the state's fear that children were being sexually and physically abused.

"It is a very sad demonstration of the legal system when a judge throws a tantrum and is not willing to sit at the table long enough to resolve the problem of getting little children back home," said Willie Jessop, an FLDS member and spokesman.

Attorneys for parents and the state arrived at the court with an agreement that called for children to be reunited with their parents beginning Monday.

Walther called a recess to allow attorneys to review the deal, but came back an hour later with her own "tweaked" version, which she said would apply to all the FLDS children.

The judge's changes, among others things, asked parents to give state agents around-the-clock access to homes at the YFZ Ranch and to agree to psychological evaluations on the children.

The changes repeat the same "global" claims of wrongdoing rejected by the Texas Supreme Court and Third Court of Appeals in the past week as being unsubstantiated, attorneys said. The modifications, they said, also went beyond reasonable conditions that would allow the state to continue its abuse investigation.

The higher courts ruled that the state's case particularly failed in regard to boys and pre-pubescent girls. Also, DFPS had other alternatives for working with parents to ensure safety while leaving the children in their care, the courts said.

"There is no evidence in the record regarding these people at all," said Julie Balovich, an attorney with Texas Rio- Grande Legal Aid, which represents the mothers who filed the appeal. "There is nothing the court has the ability to enter temporary orders on."

Attorney Gonzalo Rios said the judge's modifications amounted to "bootstrapping" a criminal investigation onto the child welfare case. The Texas Attorney General's Office already has launched a criminal investigation into the abuse claims.

Balovich said TRLA had agreed in "good faith" to conditions in the original deal, such as parenting classes and a 90-day restriction keeping the children in Texas. But "Why does Viola Barlow have to give 24-hour access to her 9-month-old son?" Balovich said later, using one mother represented in the appeal as an example.

The Texas Department of Families and Child Protection was satisfied with the agreement, Balovich said.

Other TRLA attorneys said they could not sign off on Walther's proposal because their clients had not seen it. They asked the judge to simply vacate her order and let the children return home. Some attorneys asked the judge to allow that to begin as soon as Friday, sparing parents who had traveled hundreds of miles to visit children from making a return trip next week.

"Another weekend seems like it would be forever'' for the children, said John Kennedy, an attorney for Legal Aid of Northwest Texas, which also successfully petitioned the appeals court for three mothers.

Walther declined, saying the state still had to work out logistics of how to hand the children back to their parents.

"The last thing any of us wants is for a child to get misplaced in any of this," Walther said.

State attorneys left the courthouse without comment. A spokeswoman later said DFPS would continue to work on a plan "to ensure the prompt and orderly return of the children."

But how that will happen perplexed attorneys. Andrea Sloan, who represents some young mothers, said parents had scattered across the state as they have waited for their children in the past few weeks. Collecting their signatures, as the judge asked, would be incredibly difficult, she said.

"It's not as simple as walking across the street and setting up a booth," Sloan said.

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The original agreement called for:

-- Parents to complete parenting classes and allowed them to negotiate

about providers

-- CPS to be allowed to make unannounced home visits between 8

a.m. to 8 p.m.

-- Identify all household members

-- Barred the children from leaving Texas for the next 90 days.

Judge Barbara Walther's proposed changes:

-- Stated "only a portion" of her first order was vacated

-- Dropped parents' ability to negotiate on parenting classes

-- Left the children's travel ban open-ended

-- Allowed parents and children to be given psychological evaluations

-- Directed parents to give two-days notice if they traveled more

than 60 miles

-- Allowed state officials access to homes at the ranch at all times