Texas kids return to polygamist homes

Also on Monday, a leader of the Fundamentalist Church ofJesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints said the sect would no longersanctify marriages of girls under the legal age of consent.

State District Judge Barbara Walther ordered parents to beready for unannounced home visits by authorities to the FLDScompound, the Yearning for Zion ranch in West Texas, and barredthem from taking the children out of Texas without courtapproval.

Local media reported that the children were being reunitedwith parents who picked them up from foster homes and statecare and agreed to take parenting classes, according to theorder.

The standoff between the FLDS and Texas authorities hasgripped Americans with lurid allegations of adolescent brides,teenage pregnancies and a secretive sect on a remote ranch.

The children were removed in early April after Family andProtective Services received a telephone call reporting that a16-year-old girl named Sarah was being physically and sexuallyabused at the compound. "Sarah" was never identified.

"The parents are ecstatic at having a shot at getting theirkids back, finally," said Robert Doggett of Texas Rio GrandeLegal Aid, the lead attorneys for the children.

The Texas Supreme Court ruled last week that the seizure ofthe children was unwarranted and ordered Walther to lift herApril order granting their custody to the state.

The compound is run by followers of jailed polygamistleader Warren Jeffs, who are members of the renegade Mormonsect.

Plural marriage is illegal in the United States but FLDSmen typically marry one legal wife while the others becometheir "spiritual wives."

That may be a way around the law but the sect standsaccused of marrying underage brides, which is not legal.

Jeffs was convicted last year in Utah as an accomplice torape for forcing a 14-year-old to marry her 19-year-old cousin.

"The church now commits that in the future, we will notpreside over and sanctify and marriage of any woman under theage of legal consent under the jurisdiction in which themarriage takes place," FLDS elder William Jessop, a leader atthe Texas compound, told reporters on Monday.

The mainstream Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saintsrenounced polygamy more than a century ago and has tried todistance itself from splinter groups such as the FLDS thatcontinue to practice plural marriages.

Texas Child Protective Services and the FLDS negotiatedthrough the weekend on the deal, according to Laura Shockley,the lead lawyer for the ranch.

"We will work with the district court to ensure the safetyof the children, and to make sure all of our actions conform tothe decision of the Texas Supreme Court," Patrick Crimmins ofChild Protective Services said in a statement.

(Additional reporting by Ed Stoddard in Houston)

(Reporting by Jim Forsyth; editing by Bill Trott)