By MICHELLE ROBERTS AP Writer SAN ANGELO, Texas -- The parents of the more than 400 children taken from a polygamist sect's ranch on Monday began laying out

SAN ANTONIO (AP) - The more than 400 children, from newborns to teens, forced from a polygamist sect's sprawling ranch during a raid six weeks ago and into foster care have been treated as a single group of abused and at-risk kids.
Starting Monday, judges will filter the unruly, chaotic custody dispute into hundreds of individual cases to determine what the parents must do to get their children back or whether their parental rights will be permanently severed.
st results won't be back for two to four weeks.

SAN ANTONIO, May 19 (UPI) - Judges in five San Antonio courtrooms begin custody hearings this week for 460 children removed from a polygamist ranch, state officials said.
The hearings, starting Monday, will examine how parents can regain custody of the children, the Dallas Morning Herald reported. The hearings are expected to last at least two weeks.
of the Economic Forum in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt on May 18, 2008. The theme of the summit is “Learning from the Future.” The forum is one of the largest gatherings in the Middle East for political and business leaders. (UPI Photo)

By Diane Smith Federal judges will begin hearings today in the case of the parents of the children taken under state custody from the polygamist compound in

By AP SAN ANTONIO - Texas judges Monday will begin to sift through the unruly, chaotic custody dispute involving more than 460 children forced from a polygamous sect's ranch and into foster care six weeks ago.
Texas child welfare officials have said the children -- from infants to teens -- were either abused or at-risk.
s 3 Outside California Church

By MICHELLE ROBERTS / - The parents of the more than 400 children taken from a polygamist sect's ranch will begin Monday laying out their individual cases and learning what they must do to regain custody.
The hearings, part of an enormous custody case that has stretched the legal and child welfare resources of the state, are scheduled for all five courtrooms in the Tom Green County Courthouse over the next three weeks.
S is working from a template plan that includes generalities like establishing a safe living environment and following recommendations of professionals. The template does not require them to renounce polygamy or to offer guarantees that their children will not be pushed into underage or polygamous marriages.

BOSTON - During the Vietnam War there was a phrase that came to symbolize the entire misbegotten adventure: "It became necessary to destroy the village in order to save it." It was said at first with sincerity, then repeated with irony, and finally with despair.
I have heard similar thoughts in the weeks since Texas authorities invaded a ranch in Eldorado and rounded up hundreds of children from the polygamous sect of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Did they traumatize the children in order to protect them? Did they shatter their lives to rescue them?
evertheless, the story of children taken from parents, of families wrenched apart, has

By Corrie MacLaggan SAN ANGELO - The steps leading up to the Tom Green County Courthouse were deserted Sunday afternoon, but there will be lots of traffic today as judges in five separate courtrooms begin to consider how more than 450 children from a polygamous sect's ranch could be reunited with their parents.
For those reunions to happen, Child Protective Services officials will require parents to demonstrate an ability to protect their children from sexual abuse, according to a preliminary CPS plan. The plan — which isn't final until it is approved by a judge — is already drawing criticism from parents' lawyers who say it is vague and unfairly treats all children the

By Wendy Koch, USA TODAY The children who were removed from a Texas ranch occupied by polygamists are starting to get visits from their mothers,

By Ben Winslow SAN ANGELO, Texas - More legal notices have been published, putting on notice the parents of children seized in the raid on the Fundamentalist LDS Church's YFZ Ranch.
"You have been sued," said the notice published by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services.
them that petitions have been filed in a Schleicher County court regarding the custody of their children.