Polygamist children's isolation defended

Eldorado, Texas: Officials on Tuesday defended their decision to suddenly separate mothers from many of the children taken in a raid on a polygamist ranch in West Texas.

Texas Children's Protective Services spokeswoman Marleigh Meisner said they separated children from their mothers on Monday after they decided that children are more truthful in interviews about possible abuse if their parents are not around.

When state troopers and child welfare officials seized 416 children from the compound, 139 women accompanied them on their own and had been allowed to stay with the children until Monday, when they were driven back to the compound.

Only women with children under 5 could stay at the San Angelo Coliseum where they were being held.

Coaching

Meisner said the decision was made after much discussion with experts.

The mothers have complained the state deceived them, but Meisner said the situation was explained and, while there were tears, the operation went smoothly.

"I can tell you we believe the children who are victims of abuse or neglect, and particularly victims at the hands of their own parents, certainly are going to feel safer to tell their story when they don't have a parent there that's coaching them with how to respond," Meisner said.

Although Meisner called the decision typical in any case her agency works "every single day", she also ticked off a list of obstacles making the seizure of more than 400 children from a polygamist sect anything but typical. Meisner said child welfare officials still cannot find birth certificates for many of the children, making parentage and age determinations impossible.

About three dozen of the women who returned to the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints ranch spoke out on Monday, after 11 days in temporary shelters.

They said in interviews that police surrounded them on Monday and gave them a choice between returning home, or being relocated to a women's shelter.