By Jim Forsyth
SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) - More than 400 children taken from apolygamist ranch in Texas will be reunited with their parentsnext week under a tentative agreement reached on Friday betweenstate officials and lawyers for the mothers.
The Texas Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that the stateoverstepped its authority when it removed the children from theYearning For Zion ranch in a remote area of West Texas lastmonth after allegations of abuse.
A court official said the pact, which requires approval bythe judge overseeing the custody cases, requires that parentswho want to be reunited with their children stay in Texas,allow child welfare authorities access and agree to takeparenting classes.
"There is an ongoing investigation of child abuse," SusanHays, an attorney for some of the children said. "This is justshifting custody of the children back to their parents whilethis investigation continues."
As part of that investigation, Texas officials on Fridayobtained a DNA sample from Warren Jeffs, the leader of thebreakaway Mormon sect.
Jeffs is in Arizona serving a prison sentence of 10 yearsto life for being an accomplice to rape by forcing a14-year-old to marry her cousin.
"In the search warrant you will see that evidence wascollected that Jeffs married four young girls," said JerryStrickland of the Texas Attorney General's Office. "Two12-year-olds, a 14-year-old and a 15-year-old. All of thesemarriages took place at the Yearning For Zion Ranch in Texas."
The search warrant alleges that Jeffs, 52, was at the YFZRanch on several occasions when young girls there are believedto have become pregnant.
Texas child welfare officials have charged that underJeffs' direction and leadership, leaders of the FundamentalistChurch of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints trained young girlsto become "spiritual brides" of older men.
Records seized at the ranch indicate that some men who livethere admit to having up to seven wives and dozens of children.
(Writing by Anna Driver in Houston; Editing by PeterCooney)
