Dec 23, 2008 3:00 pm US/Eastern
Officials: Abuse Widespread At Polygamist Ranch
DALLAS (CBS) ―
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All the children from the Yearning For Zion Ranch were placed in foster care in April after authorities raided it in response to calls to a domestic abuse hot line.
KTVT / KTXA
A report from the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services shows one out of every four pubescent girls on the Yearning For Zion Ranch were in an underage marriage and 12 girls were victims of sexual abuse and neglect because they were married when they were ages 12-15.
In the report released Tuesday, the TDFPS said 262 children were subjected to neglect because their parents failed to remove the child from a "situation in which the child would be exposed to sexual abuse committed against another child within their families or households."
The investigation also reveals that 43 girls removed from the East Texas ranch were between 12 and 17.
Of the 146 families investigated, 62 percent had a confirmed finding abuse or neglect involving one or more children in the family, state officials said.
According to the report, has reason to believe that determined that one or both parents in 91 families sexually abused or neglected a child in the family by entering into an illegal underage marriage with a child and failing to take "reasonable steps" to prevent the illegal underage marriage of a child.
CPS also determined that in 12 families no abuse or neglect has occurred. In three additional families, the state determined that that no investigation was needed.
Officials did not have enough evidence to determine if there was neglect or abuse in 39 families.
Finally, CPS said there could not investigation the members of one family because they could no locate them.
FLDS spokesman Willie Jessop disputed the findings.
"The department has made many allegations that it's never been able to back up, in an effort to justify their barbaric actions," he said. "They need to learn how to say we're sorry instead of trying to justify their actions."
All the children from the ranch were placed in foster care in April after authorities raided it in response to calls to a domestic abuse hot line. Those calls are being investigated as a hoax, though a dozen FLDS men now face charges including sexual abuse and bigamy based on documents and evidence seized at the ranch.
The children were returned to their parents in June after the Texas Supreme Court ruled the state had overstepped in removing all the children when it only had evidence of abuse or neglect involving about a half-dozen girls. Many of the children were boys or younger than 5.
Crimmins said the intention all along had been to conduct individual investigations, but the children were removed so that could be done. The agency had accused the parents of being uncooperative and deliberately obscuring the identity of the children.
Since the investigations, most of the 200 parents have been through parenting classes and signed agreements promising to protect their children from alleged abusers. All but 19 of the children's cases have been dropped from court oversight because the agency believes they can be kept safe.
The FLDS, which believes polygamy brings glorification in heaven, is a breakaway sect of the Mormon church, which renounced polygamy more than a century ago.
(© 2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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