Texas Children To Receive Counseling

f the children, recently removed from the Yearn forrecords were seized. These include marriage, birth
Zion ranch, will receive mental health counseling. Theand genealogical documents, which will help authorities
Texas State office of Child Protective Services ismatch children with their parents.
working with several mental health agencies andAll of the women and children are currently residing
others in the field, in order to put this all together.at, either, the Wells Fargo Pavilion or Fort Concho. At
Because all of these children, 416 to be exact, havethe time, no one from the compound or any other
been taught not to trust the world outside of therelatives are being allowed to visit. It is not known if
ranch environment, thethis policy will change.
‘non-believers’, it will be very difficultMost of the children are the offspring of the inner
for them to adapt to a new and different way ofcircle of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of
life.Latter Day Saints, which is a turncoat, splinter, group
These children have never been allowed to have anyof the Mormon faith.
type of independent thoughts and have been toldWarren Jeffs, who is now serving a prison term, is
that those living outside of the compound are thethe self proclaimed prophet of the Church. He is also
devil. It has been said that the children have been sothought to be the father of most of the children that
sheltered that many don’t even know whatwere removed from the compound.
a crayon is.The compound, located in El Dorado Texas, was
Mental-health workers are currently finding it difficultraided on April 3, 2008 as the result of a telephone
to obtain information from the majority of thecall made by a 16-year-old girl seeking help from a
children because they have been told, over and overdomestic violence shelter. During that phone call the
again, not to speak to outsiders.girl indicated that she had been raped and beaten by
The counselors hope that once the children began toa 50 year old husband and that she was pregnant.
receive counseling, while not in the presence of theConstruction on the compound began in 2003. It was
mothers who came with them, they will begin toduring that period that many children were taken
open up and express their feelings.from the Utah and Arizona area… some
In addition to mental health services for children willwithout their parents and brought to the compound,
be receiving other types of medical services.to live.
Currently, their educational needs are being assesses,The majority of these children were girls, under the
as well.age of six. Jeffs was under the belief that children
It should be noted that 139 women voluntarily leftover the age of six were much too contaminated to
with the children. To date, families remain together.be of any use to God.
During a search, at the compound, a variety of