Child welfare officials appeal ruling on Texas sect

SAN ANGELO, Texas – State child welfare authorities Friday appealed a stinging court ruling that said their seizure of more than 440 children from a polygamist sect’s ranch was unjustified, but they also agreed to reunite 12 children with their parents while the case moves on.

The agreement specifies 12 children, some of whose parents had filed a motion with a state district court in San Antonio for their release from state foster care.

Lori Jessop cried when she and her husband, Joseph, were reunited with their daughter and two sons. “The little boy just grabbed for his daddy” when CPS workers handed him over, said their attorney Rene Haas.

CPS agreed to allow the parents to live with their children in the San Antonio area under state supervision, said Teresa Kelly, a spokeswoman for Haas. Child Protective Services spokesman Patrick Crimmins declined to comment on the agreement.

The Third Court of Appeals on Thursday ordered a lower-court judge to rescind her decision giving the state custody of more than 100 of the children.

CPS said in its appeal to the Texas Supreme Court that the appeals court was wrong to say that the vast majority of children at the ranch did not face the sort of extreme danger state law requires for them to be removed without a court order. The agency cited evidence it said showed that the church pushed teenage girls into spiritual marriages with older men.

“This case is about adult men commanding sex from underage children; about women knowingly condoning and allowing sexual abuse of underage children; about the need for the department to take action under difficult, time-sensitive and unprecedented circumstances,” CPS said in its appeal. The state asked to keep the children in foster care while the case is reviewed.