Federal judges will begin hearings today in the case of the parents of the children taken under state custody from the polygamist compound in Texas. The parents who want their children back will have to go throw a hearing with Texas child protection workers so the lawmakers can decide what parents deserve their kids back and who don’t.  

Authorities have taken more than 450 children from the Eldorado ranch and put them into foster care. The lawmakers must decide what parents get the custody of their children back right away, and what the others must do to enjoy the same parental rights. It is possible that some parents may permanently lose their parental rights over the children taken from the polygamist compound.

The families of the children taken from the compound run by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints include at least 168 mothers and 69 fathers.

Despite efforts, authorities still haven’t matched more than 100 of the children with their mothers.

Texas child protection workers are expected to tell the judge that the parents who want the custody of their children back must renounce the sect practice of marrying under aged girls to older men.

The hearings are the latest step in the largest child protection case in the nation’s history.
State officials are expected to present the steps that Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints parents must follow to get the custody of their children back. Among those steps they may see some like: proving they can provide a home free from potential child abusers and demonstrating the ability to protect children from abuse.

"You can't be in bigamist marriages, and the other thing you can't do is marry off young teenagers to very old men," said Scott McCown, a former Texas district court judge.