Court says Texas wrong to take children

SAN ANGELO, Texas, May 22 (UPI) -- Texas state agencies seized children from a polygamist compound without any proof that they were in "imminent enough" danger, a state appeals court ruled.

A three-judge panel of the Texas 3rd District Court of Appeals Thursday reversed a lower court ruling, and gave Judge Barbara Walther 10 days to vacate her order allowing the children to be taken into state custody, the San Antonio Express-News reported.

Police raided the Yearning For Zion ranch operated by the Fundamentalist Church of the Latter-Day Saints after authorities received a telephone call purporting to be from a teenager who said she had been forced into a polygamous marriage with a much older man. That call was later determined to be a hoax, but Child Protective Services said it had found evidence of girls forced into sexual relationships and motherhood.

The appeals court in Austin called taking more than 460 children from their parents an "extreme measure" that should only be done when there is imminent risk of physical harm.

"The Department did not present any evidence of danger to the physical health or safety of any male children or any female children who had not reached puberty," the court said.