Disputes over homes and health services in a polygamous community spilled over into a Safety Net Committee meeting Thursday as disgruntled residents appealed for help.

Andrew and Michelle Chatwin said the Utah Attorney General's Office has ignored their discrimination claim against the Hildale Health Service Center. Genevive Hainlein wants help getting utilities turned on at a condemned home she wants to fix up, while Stephanie Colgrove fears being kicked out of a home by the man who built it.

The committee, a coalition of government agencies, service providers and representatives of fundamentalist communities, agreed to help the residents. All of the residents who spoke before the committee are former members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

But some of their fears may be unfounded.

"No one, FLDS or otherwise, is going to remove any one from a house unless there is a court order to do that," said Jim Bradshaw, an attorney representing sect members.

Attorneys for the sect and the state are currently in a "stand down" while they negotiate resolution of lawsuits involving the United Effort Plan Trust, which holds virtually all property in the adjoining towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz. The trust has been under court oversight since 2005.

Trust overseer Bruce R. Wisan said he is "not going to intervene in the stand down period" in any disputes, which leaves the status quo in place for now.

Andrew Chatwin told The Salt Lake Tribune he was encouraged to attend the meeting by Paul Murphy, spokesman for the Attorney General's Office spokesman.

The Chatwins said they were turned away from the health clinic a year ago after seeking treatment for a sick child. Staff said the center was not accepting new patients and instead offered to transport the child, who had an ear infection, by ambulance to Hurricane. They got the same response when they inquired about using the center's birthing clinic earlier this year.

There is another health clinic in nearby Centennial Park, Ariz., that has an open practice, but Chatwin said his family wants access to the Utah clinic.

The Hildale Health center has two physicians; one has been working at a Texas ranch occupied by the sect. That led the other physician to limit his practice, said Jethro Barlow, a former FLDS member helping with management of the UEP Trust.

The health center does not receive federal funds directly, according to Tom Hudachko, Utah Department of Health spokesman. While many residents have Medicaid coverage, clinics may limit how many such patients they serve, he said.

But Chatwin believes his family is being turned away because they are not sect members. "It is religious discrimination, a civil rights violation, if they are only serving FLDS people there," he told the Tribune.

The couple filed complaints in Utah and Arizona, where an affiliated annex is located, but only heard from the Arizona Attorney General's Office. That office would neither confirm nor deny its involvement, but Chatwin said a settlement has been offered. It asks that the clinic be open to and employ non-FLDS residents and seeks $5,000 in damages.