---

---

ReligionNewsBlog.com • Item 23133 • Posted: Wednesday January 7, 2009  

---

Welfare officials want assurance girl in FLDS won’t be married again

A fight for the custody of the 14-year-old bride of jailed polygamist leader Warren Jeffs could be heating up, according to a document filed in West Texas over the holidays.

The girl is the only child still in foster care who was among the 439 children taken by CPS last spring from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints ranch in Eldorado.

And the teen could remain in foster care permanently, her parents’ rights severed, which could free her up for adoption, if her mother does not assure the agency that she can provide a safe home, one where the girl is not married to another man.

A Texas Child Protective Services progress report on the case, filed Dec. 22, reveals the agency’s frustrated attempts to persuade the teen’s mother, Barbara Jessop, to cooperate with them by assuring them her daughter would not be involved in other marriages.

The agency indicated it now wants permanent custody of the girl.

“Ms. Jessop has not been able to identify how she will be able to protect (her daughter) from future abuse,” the progress report, filed in San Angelo, reads.

Calls to attorneys for both Barbara Jessop and her daughter were not immediately returned to the Houston Chronicle on Tuesday.

In this latest report, CPS officials insist the agency continues to seek reunification of the family.

However, the immediate goal sought by the agency is “permanent managing conservatorship,” or permanent custody, a subtle, but important change in course for the agency.
[...]

In previous filings, CPS officials have presented records, including excerpts from Jeffs’ journals, that indicate the girl was married to Jeffs when she was 12 years old. Jeffs is the jailed leader of the FLDS, a breakaway Mormon sect that practices polygamy.

Those records indicated that the marriage ceremony was performed by the teen’s father, Frederick Merril Jessop, considered Jeffs’ second-in-command, and witnessed by the girl’s mother, the third of Jessop’s six wives.

A status hearing, allowing all parties to meet on the teen’s case, is scheduled for Thursday in San Angelo.

---

What You Can Do From Here

---

Read More Articles On These Topics Categories: FLDS, Polygamy Tags: FLDS, Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Sai, fundamentalist mormons, mormon fundamentalists, Polygamy, warren jeffs, warren s. jeffs Share, Blog About, Bookmark, or Email This Article Subscribe Religion News Blog RSS feed [What is this?] RSS by topic: FLDS, Polygamy Read Another Article Previous entry: Court Restores Murder Conviction Of Man In Marin Pendragon Cult Next entry: Speculation remains regarding possible Scientology connection in death of Jett Travolta RNB Homepage with latest headlines Find Related Information Use our custom search engines to find additional research resources on religions and cults Find Related Books FLDS Most Popular Today NewsChannel 10 allowed inside self proclaimed messiah’s compound Wanda Barzee pleads guilty to charge in Elizabeth Smart case Judge cancels hearing in case against Warren Jeffs Atheists ‘just as ethical as churchgoers’ research shows

---

Share This Article

---

To share this page simply copy and paste one of these URL's:

• Post a link on your blog or website:
  
• Send in an email or IM:
  
• Post on a forum:
  

Search for information about (religious) cults, cult-like organizations, -- as well as paranormal-, New Age, and pseudoscientific claims -- across 260+ websites, blogs and forums dedicated to cult research, spiritual abuse, ex-cult counseling & support.

Note: results are listed on another domain -- CounterCultSearch.com -- from which you can easily return here.

Search for apologetics articles, books, videos, and other research resources across 135 Christian apologetics websites and blogs.

Note: results are listed on another domain -- ApologeticsSearch.com -- from which you can easily return here.