Texas court lets kids return to polygamist homes

SAN ANTONIO, Texas (Reuters) - A Texas judge on Monday allowed over 400 children removed from the polygamist Yearning for Zion ranch in West Texas to return to their parents.

State District Judge Barbara Walther ordered parents to be ready for unannounced home visits by authorities and barred them from taking the children out of Texas without court approval.

Parents could begin picking up their children at 10 a.m. local time and agreed to take parenting classes, according to the order.

The standoff between the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and Texas authorities has fascinated some Americans with lurid allegations of adolescent brides, teenage pregnancies and a secretive sect on a remote West Texas ranch.

The children were removed in early April after Family and Protective Services received a telephone call reporting that a 16-year-old girl named Sarah was being physically and sexually abused at the compound. "Sarah" was never identified.

"The parents are ecstatic at having a shot at getting their kids back, finally," said Robert Doggett of Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid, the lead attorneys for the children.

The Texas Supreme Court ruled last week that the seizure of the children was unwarranted and ordered Judge Walther to lift her April order granting their custody to the state.

The compound is run by followers of jailed polygamist leader Warren Jeffs, who are members of a renegade Mormon sect known as the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints or FLDS.

The mainstream Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints renounced polygamy over a century ago and is at pains to distance itself from splinter groups such as the FLDS that continue to practice plural marriages.

Texas Child Protective Services and the FLDS negotiated through the weekend on the deal, according to Laura Shockley, the lead lawyer for the ranch.

"We will work with the district court to ensure the safety of the children, and to make sure all of our actions conform to the decision of the Texas Supreme Court," Patrick Crimmins of Child Protective Services said in a statement.

(Reporting by Jim Forsyth, editing by Peter Henderson and Alan Elsner)