Texas child welfare chiefs have asked a judge to put eight children from a polygamist sect’s ranch back into foster care because their mothers refuse to limit their contact with men accused of being involved in underage marriages.

A JUDGE yesterday ordered the immediate return of more than 400 US children taken into care from a polygamist sect’s ranch.

THE six-year-old son of polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs did not suffer physical or sexual abuse while living with his mother at the group’s Texas ranch, a child welfare case worker testified yesterday.

A child welfare worker told a court early today that numerous women at a polygamous church ranch in West Texas may have had children when they were as young as 13.