Texas begins moving FLDS kids into care

SAN ANGELO, Texas, April 24 (UPI) -- Texas authorities began moving children removed from a polygamist ranch into foster care Thursday, taking them away from their mothers.

While welfare workers dealt with the logistics of the most complex child custody case in U.S. history, an appeals court in Austin agreed to hear motions Tuesday by women seeking to stop the breakup of their families, the Deseret Morning News reported.

Texas officials said that they had 462 children from the YFZ Ranch in temporary state custody, including some teenage girls who have already become mothers. At a news conference Thursday afternoon, officials with Child Protective Services said that 63 children and 64 women left the San Angelo Coliseum, which has been serving as a temporary shelter.

The ranch was raided after someone claiming to be a 16-year-old girl forced into a polygamous marriage and motherhood called a hot line. The call now appears to be a hoax, but officials said they have proof that underage girls were abused.

The ranch is run by the Fundamentalist Church of the Latter-Day Saints, a breakaway Mormon group headed by Warren Jeffs.