SAN ANGELO, TEXAS — The largest child custody case in U.S. history got off to a chaotic start Thursday as hundreds of attorneys representing 416 children seized from a polygamist compound jumped up all over the courtroom to raise a barrage of objections.
"We're not going to have people jumping up and down," state District Judge Barbara L. Walther said as attorneys attempted to file motions and object to the manner in which the hearing was being handled.
"I wish I could give you a perfect solution, but there is not one," she said after an attorney argued that each individual child should have the opportunity to present evidence in his or her case. "Give us a chance to get things going and see if this will work."
Yet after barely 40 minutes, attorneys watching the proceedings through closed- circuit TV in a nearby building began to shout that they were not able to view copies of the first exhibit. After an hourlong recess during which a bailiff distributed copies to the other room, the hearing resumed with scores of attorneys still waiting in line to read the documents.
The logistics of determining the fate of such a huge number of children proved cumbersome throughout the day. More than 350 attorneys had come from across Texas to represent children, and others represented the parents. The state's Division of Child Protective Services is seeking to strip the parents of custody and place the children in foster homes or up for adoption.
Attorneys for the state agency allege that the children were sexually abused, or at risk of sexual abuse, at the remote YFZ Ranch run by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
The hearing, which by state statute must be held within 14 days of the children being removed from their homes, is supposed to determine whether the children, who range in age from 6 months to 17 years old, will remain in temporary state custody or return to their families.
Ordinarily, each child would have an individual hearing, but the state is seeking to handle all 416 children as a single case, arguing that the sexual and physical abuse at the ranch was systemic.
"This is probably the biggest child custody action that's ever taken place in the United States, and it's also one of the most complex," said Peter N. Swisher, a professor at the National Center for Family Law at the University of Richmond.
