By Jim Forsyth
SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) - A deal to return home more than 400children taken from a polygamist ranch in Texas was delayed onFriday after a judge refused to approve the tentativeagreement, saying all parties had not agreed to terms of thepact.
State District Judge Barbara Walther in San Angeloadjourned a hearing without signing an order presented to thecourt earlier in the day that would have returned the childrento their families as early as this weekend. The children wereremoved from the ranch in remote west Texas by state officialslast month after allegations of abuse.
Walther told the court all parties must agree on terms ofthe deal over the weekend following objections lodged by someparties. She said she would reconsider the matter on Monday.
Her actions left the members of the breakaway Mormon sectdistraught.
"There was an opportunity today for relief of this, and itwas not granted," Willie Jessop, a spokesman for theFundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints,told a news conference after the hearing. "The judge left thecourt in total disarray of everyone asking what is next."
On Thursday, the Texas Supreme Court ruled the stateoverstepped its authority when it removed the children from theYearning For Zion ranch.
The higher court's ruling led to a deal between lawyersrepresenting the mothers and state welfare officials that wouldhave returned the children to their parents.
The pact requires that parents who want to be reunited withtheir children stay in Texas, allow child welfare authoritiesaccess and agree to take parenting classes.
One sticking point was the length of time the agreementwould be in effect, church officials said.
Even when the children are returned to their parents, thestate's investigation will continue.
Texas officials on Friday obtained a DNA sample from WarrenJeffs, the leader of the breakaway 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.
(Writing by Anna Driver in Houston; Editing by PeterCooney)
