Officials return to polygamy sect’s compound

Barlow, who has 12 other children with another woman, said he didn't fight for custody when he was forced from the church because he didn't want the children used as "pawns."

The FLDS children were removed en masse from the ranch during an April 3 raid that began after someone called a domestic abuse hot line claiming to be a pregnant abused teenage wife. Authorities are investigating whether the calls were a hoax.

The judges have not allowed much discussion of the validity of the decision to take the children, but they have focused on state-drafted "service plans" outlining how parents can get their children back. Parents have complained the plans are too vague.

Johnson moved from Utah to Abilene, Texas, to be closer to his six children, who haven't lived with him for more than four years. He noted that accusations and required services are all directed at church members.

"How does the service plan fit my particular needs?" he asked in court.

'Anything is more acceptable'
Child Protective Services spokesman Patrick Crimmins said the agency has asked FLDS parents to name relatives who could take the children, but all will have to be vetted before they could get custody.

Tony Gutierrez / AP Frank Johnson, an ex-communicated member, seeks custody of his children.

FLDS spokesman Rod Parker said the 168 mothers in the case want their children but would consider relatives to be acceptable alternative guardians.

"Anything is more acceptable than foster care or non-relative adoption," he said.

Parker also reiterated the church's belief that the final number of underage mothers will be closer to five or six, though he acknowledged that some of the young mothers apparently were pregnant while younger than 17 — Texas' age of consent.

"We've always known there are one or two or three examples out there," Parker said. "What I've always denied is that there are (dozens) out there."

State plans call for CPS to try to reunite parents and children by April. The costs of the raid and the cases are expected to rise to $30 million in that time, and state lawmakers in Austin on Tuesday began looking at how to fund them.

The FLDS, which teaches that polygamy brings glorification in heaven, is a breakaway of the Mormon church, which renounced polygamy more than a century ago.

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