By Don Teague, NBC News Correspondent
SAN ANGELO, Texas – They really do look younger. As the first round of individual hearings for mothers from the Yearning For Zion ranch continue in San Angelo , perhaps the most interesting fact to emerge is that many women from the polygamist sect look much younger than their actual age.
More than 460 children from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints ranch were shipped out of San Angelo’s Coliseum last month and scattered to foster care facilities across the state.
Officials from Texas Child Protective Services (CPS) said at least 31 of the mothers, or pregnant "girls," in state custody were underage. That number, they conceded, included 26 women/girls whose ages were "in dispute." The women told CPS officials they were adults, and claimed they had documentation to prove it, but investigators insisted that they "looked like minors," so they were kept in custody.
Fast forward to this week, where judges are holding status hearings on the cases. Unlike prior court proceedings before, when a judge considered all of the families together in one giant, chaotic hearing, these hearings are happening on a "per mother" basis. After just the first two days of hearings, the number of alleged underage mothers has dropped dramatically, from 31 down to 23, and it could keep falling.
Turns out, many of the "disputed" minors are adults after all, a point CPS hasn’t ...
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By Don Teague, NBC News Correspondent
SAN ANGELO, Texas – They really do look younger. As the first round of individual hearings for mothers from the Yearning For Zion ranch continue in San Angelo , perhaps the most interesting fact to emerge is that many women from the polygamist sect look much younger than their actual age.
More than 460 children from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints ranch were shipped out of San Angelo’s Coliseum last month and scattered to foster care facilities across the state.
Officials from Texas Child Protective Services (CPS) said at least 31 of the mothers, or pregnant "girls," in state custody were underage. That number, they conceded, included 26 women/girls whose ages were "in dispute." The women told CPS officials they were adults, and claimed they had documentation to prove it, but investigators insisted that they "looked like minors," so they were kept in custody.
Fast forward to this week, where judges are holding status hearings on the cases. Unlike prior court proceedings before, when a judge considered all of the families together in one giant, chaotic hearing, these hearings are happening on a "per mother" basis. After just the first two days of hearings, the number of alleged underage mothers has dropped dramatically, from 31 down to 23, and it could keep falling.
Turns out, many of the "disputed" minors are adults after all, a point CPS hasn’t ...