CPS wants 8 polygamist sect kids back in custody

Texas Child Protective Services has petitioned the court to get 8 children they were forced to return to a polygamist sect back into state custody.

In affidavits that provide the best view yet of what CPS has found in its investigation of possible sexual abuse of young teenage girls, four child-abuse investigators said removal of six girls and two boys, ages 5 to 17, are necessary because their mothers won’t agree to keep them away from men practicing and promoting underage marriage.

The affidavits reveal stories that are sad and dismaying.

A 10-year-old girl told CPS investigator Kerrie Blair that she was brought to the sect’s West Texas ranch in the middle of the night more than two years ago. She and a younger sister lived there with Bishop Merril Jessop and his wife, Barbara. The two girls haven’t seen their 41-year-old birth mother since coming to Texas, Ms. Blair said.