SAN ANGELO, Texas - Hundreds of children from a West Texas polygamist compound that was raided last week could end up in foster care. Authorities seized more than 400 children from the compound of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, most of them girls. Authorities say they were in danger of physical, emotional and sexual abuse.
Texas officials say the breakaway Mormon group requires girls to enter polygamous marriages with much older men at puberty and produce children. It also teaches them to fear the outside world as hostile and immoral.
A spokeswoman for the state Children's Protective Services says the agency is working with mental health and other experts to make the transition to foster housing as easy as possible for the children. Former sect member Margaret Cooke says counselors will have to "deprogram an entire community."
A hearing next Thursday will determine whether the state gets full custody of the children or whether they can return to the compound.
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