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SAN ANGELO, Texas-[[[[[[[[[Dozens of mothers from a polygamist retreat were bused away from their children Thursday, their legal efforts to stay united rejected as Texas officials sort out their massive custody case.Two buses took the women from the San Angelo Coliseum, where they had been temporarily housed with their children. Texas officials were preparing to move the last of more than 400 children to group homes, shelters and residences, some hundreds of miles away, over the next few days.One woman held a handwritten sign out the bus window that read: "SOS. Mothers separated. Help."In Austin, the state's Third Court of Appeals on Thursday rejected the mothers' pleas to immediately stop authorities from busing the children taken from the ranch to foster homes.The court agreed to hear arguments Tuesday, but attorney Robert Doggett, who represents 48 mothers, said that "having a hearing after the fact" was pointless."It could very well be there's some good reasons to remove some of those children, absolutely," Doggett said. "But to suggest all of them be painted with this broad brush because they belong to a particular religion is a very dangerous thing, and that's why we have courts."]]]]]]]]]]The Yearning For Zion Ranch in Eldorado, south of San Angelo, was raided April 3 and is owned by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a renegade Mormon sect.Texas officials allege that the sect encourages adolescent girls to marry older men and have children, and that boys are groomed to become future perpetrators. Sect members deny the allegations.Child welfare officials removed the children on suspicion of physical and sexual abuse after a family violence center received a call from a female saying she was a 16-year-old girl inside the compound whose 49-year-old husband beat and raped her. A judge awarded the state temporary custody last week.The case has been marked by confusion, even on the number of children involved. The state's count rose, for the second time, to 462 on Thursday because officials believe 25 more mothers from the compound who had claimed to be adults are under 18.Authorities are investigating whether the call that prompted the raid came from a woman in Colorado who has a history of making fake calls to authorities. The purported 16-year-old caller has not been identified, but state child welfare officials say that their investigation has uncovered evidence of abuse and that they responded to the call in good faith.Last week state officials separated mothers from their children unless the kids were 5 or younger, an exception that meant many of the mothers were able to stay.On Thursday, however, the women were gathered and told that children older than 1 year would go with Child Protective Services, said Cynthia Martinez, a spokeswoman for legal aid attorneys representing the mothers. She said they weren't allowed to say goodbye."There were tears by the children, by the women and by some of our caseworkers," said CPS spokesman Darrell Azar, but he added that the move was for the good of the children.The women separated from their kids were given a choice to go back to the ranch or a "safe" location. Azar said seven went back to the ranch and 40 went to the other location.Where the women chose to go had no bearing on the outcome of their custody cases, Azar said.Buses also were taking away more of the children from the coliseum on Thursday; before then, 138 had been taken to foster-care facilities.Attorneys for the mothers argued that last week's two-day custody hearing for all the children together was inadequate. It devolved into a legal circus spread over two buildings, with hundreds of lawyers jockeying for a single judge's attention.[[[[[[[[[Without adequate hearings for each child, removing them from their mothers is "in plain violation of Texas and federal law," attorneys said in a motion filed Wednesday.]]]]]]]]]]The youngsters will be held in foster group homes around the state until individual custody decisions can be made.Those hearings are expected to wrap up in June.A complicating factor is the sect's tangled web of family bonds. State social workers have said that members have offered different names and ages, and that the children refer to all of their fathers' wives as their "mothers" and to all men in the community as "uncles."DNA tests are under way to sort out the connections.The church's leader, Warren Jeffs, was convicted in September in southern Utah for his role in arranging the marriage of a 14-year-old girl to an older cousin. A judge on Thursday rejected Jeffs' request for a new trial.As in the days of Noah....
