Reply #4: Deal to return sect children to parents collapses

[CatWoman]

Texas court earlier ruled kids to returned; talks between sides hit snag

SAN ANGELO, Texas - Negotiations between Texas officials and a polygamist sect hit a snag Friday evening, delaying an agreement to return more than 400 children to their parents, NBC News reported.

A Texas judge refused to sign an agreement ordering the return of polygamist children after attorneys for their parents objected to changes she sought.

Texas District Judge Barbara Walther wanted to place additional restrictions on the parents and give state child protection workers more authority to monitor the families.

Walther said she would sign the order after the parents, all members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Eldorado, agreed to those terms.

Recent developmemnts followed the state Supreme Court ruling that children would be returned beginning Monday.

Under the ruling, the children won't be able to leave Texas but they will be allowed to move back to Yearning For Zion Ranch, where child-welfare officials have alleged that underage girls were pushed into spiritual marriages with older men. The parents say there was no abuse, and two courts ruled that the state overstepped its authority in removing all children from the ranch, from infants to teenagers.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24887140/