Polygamist sect hearing begins in Texas

Lawyers for Texas child welfare chiefs have begun presenting evidence at a hearing on whether a girl allegedly given in marriage at 12 to jailed polygamist leader Warren Jeffs should be placed back in foster care.

The state wants to remove the girl, now 14, and a younger brother from the care of her mother, saying the mother has refused to guarantee the girl will not have contact with men accused of being involved in underage marriages.

The girl’s father allegedly blessed her marriage to Jeffs and the underage marriages of at least two sisters.

Authorities have been investigating the cases of 440 children since the Texas Supreme Court ordered the children seized from the Yearning For Zion Ranch in an April raid be returned to their parents.