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Oct 31, 2008 9:18 am US/Central
CBS 11 News Goes Inside The FLDS West Texas Ranch
Reporting
Jack Fink
FORT WORTH (CBS 11 / TXA 21) ―
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Warren Jeffs with his 12-year-old bride - on their wedding day.
KTVT / KTXA
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Warren Jeffs kissing his 12-year-old bride.
KTVT / KTXA
CBS 11 News is the first television station allowed inside the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints (FLDS) ranch in West Texas since hundreds of children, taken from their parents six months ago, were returned.
There is new information about the raid on sect's ranch. The pictures seen in this story and on video are still unforgettable for most. It was six months ago when more than 400 children were taken from their parents, in what became the nation's largest child custody case.
CBS 11 News reporter Jack Fink was allowed inside the polygamist compound to see what life there is like today.
Residents of the 1700 acre Yearning for Zion Ranch (YFZ) in Eldorado, say their lives changed forever last April. That's when hundreds of law enforcement officers raided their home and Texas Child Protective Services (CPS) removed all 439 of their children.
Ben Barlow, 26, a member of the FLDS says, "I miss the way it used to be. The state has come in and done nothing but abuse their power, break up families, and it will never be back to normal."
The FLDS broke apart from the Mormon Church, when it rejected polygamy.
Barlow has lived on the ranch for four years now. He says his wife and their three young children were out of state during the raid and now he won't allow them to return.
According to Barlow, CPS has left small children emotionally scarred. "It's amazing to have 4-year-old to 6-year-old girls scared of CPS," he said. Fink wanted further explanation and asked, "When you say scared, what do you mean?" "Run to their bedrooms... close the windows... shut the blinds..." Barlow explained.
Susan Hays is a Dallas attorney ad litem and represents a two-year-old girl on the ranch. Hays' says she has seen children act out. "Younger children who've regressed to wetting their beds. Toddlers who've regressed to wanting to breast feed, when they've already been weaned," Hays said. "They pulled off the raid very well, but they didn't pull off the cleanup well at all."
So what does CPS say about accusations the raid left the FLDS children with emotional scars? Spokesman Patrick Crimmins says the children received the best care the state could provide including mental health and medical screenings.
Crimmins says this is the largest and most extensive child custody case in state history, and that it was all in an effort to protect children.
Last May, the State Supreme Court ruled the state couldn't remove all the children at once. After that ruling, a San Angelo judge later ordered all of them returned to their parents.
Of the 439 children CPS initially removed from the ranch, 402 of them are now living with their parents without any court oversight.
CPS is monitoring six children very closely and the agency says a judge is still reviewing the remaining cases.
Hays says once girls become 10-years-old, the state will no longer allow their fathers to live in the same house. "The girls are very upset about it. Every 9, 10, 11-year-old girl knows that rule and they don't like it," she claims. Crimmins couldn't confirm that the state will require the fathers to move.
Since the raid, a Schleicher County grand jury has charged eight FLDS members, including their prophet Warren Jeffs, with sexual assault of a child. Several also face bigamy charges.
Schleicher County Sheriff David Doran says, "It just points out there was this problem out there."
Doran says the grand jury may indict others. "Women, I'm not sure. But that's a point of investigation. They were a part of handing their daughters over to an older man," he said.
One well-known girl from the ranch remains in state foster care. She's 14 years old.
Court files show Jeffs married her when she was just 12, and in a wedding picture, seen at the right, Jeffs is holding the girl and kissing her on the lips.
Jeffs is in prison after being convicted as an accomplice to rape in Utah and faces similar charges in Arizona.
Despite everything that's happened, Barlow says its part of their religion for older men to marry underage girls. He had this exchange with reporter Jack Fink.
Fink: "It's against the law… having an underage girl marry an older man."
Barlow: "That's true, that's true. But the state says you must put on your seatbelt. Do you always wear your seatbelt? Not always. If the girls choose to, heaven bless them. That's none of my business what they choose to do."
Fink: "Do they have a choice?"
Barlow: "Yes, they do."
Fink: "So they can say, 'No, I don't want to marry an older man'?"
Barlow: "Yes, they can."
Since the raid, the FLDS says many residents haven't returned to the ranch, claiming they are too afraid of CPS.
The church says many of its construction projects on the ranch have come to a halt, and for the first time, FLDS members are competing for construction projects in town. FLDS members say they need the money to help pay for their attorneys so they can keep their children.
Barlow says life has been difficult, but he's optimistic. "It's getting better. More people are coming back. Its home. It's just home," he said.
CPS is still investigating whether the FLDS children previously suffered abuse while living in West Texas.
The Texas Rangers are continuing their criminal investigation into the FLDS and a Schleicher County grand jury will meet in November and December.
The Dallas FBI is conducting its own separate investigation and congressional investigators are also looking into the FLDS.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
RAW VIDEO: 100-Mile Police Chase
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