CPS: Texas polygamist sect teen who gave birth is adult Polygamist sect teen who gave birth is adult, Texas CPS says

Texas Child Protective Services conceded Tuesday that a pregnant teen taken from a polygamists' ranch in West Texas was an adult when she gave birth in San Marcos last month, casting some doubt on the statistics released by the agency that more than 20 underage girls were pregnant or had given birth.

The teenager, 18-year-old Pamela Jeffs, gave birth to a boy on April 29. CPS officials said she was one of 27 girls in a "disputed" minor category who once told CPS they were adults but later indicated they were under 18.

All 27 girls were among 463 children taken from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints' Yearning For Zion Ranch near Eldorado on April 4 and 5 after the state insisted all were either sexually or physically abused or at risk of abuse. Three weeks later, the children were scattered to foster care facilities throughout the state.

And now some are claiming to be have been adults all along.

The revelation came at a hearing in San Angelo on Tuesday, when a CPS attorney said a new mother who was in protective custody as a minor was in fact an adult, CPS spokeswoman Marleigh Meisner said.

The CPS attorney told state District Judge Barbara Walther that the mother of a healthy boy born in San Marcos weeks after the removals was now considered to be at least 18, and was free to go. It was not clear if she had left her newborn, who is still in state custody.

"We had solid proof, including state-issued documents," said Natalie Malonis, an attorney for the woman.

While some adult women were allowed to remain in foster care with children under the age of 1 year, other mothers were considered to be underage and therefore, foster children, as well as their own children.

But the San Angelo hearing of the Jeffs case, which was rescheduled to continue Friday, was the first time CPS has acknowledged officially that some females in their care may be women, not underage girls.

"We consider the woman an adult," said Chris Van Deusen, a CPS spokesman in Austin.

CPS officials said they could not say whether there are any other "women" being held in foster care, as was the case with Pamela Jeffs.

Another dispute

Court challenges are coming fast and furious in this widely watched case, the largest child custody proceeding in history.

Two days ago, another disputed minor gave birth, this time in Austin. Her husband, Dan Jessop, has insisted his wife is 22 and that both he and attorneys have tried to prove that to CPS. But his wife remains in a foster home with their newborn, separated from their other children, who are in another facility.

CPS officials say that, while they are looking into that case, there has been no determination that the Austin FLDS mother is an adult.

Jessop and his attorneys filed for a temporary restraining order in Austin, just hours after his new son was born, to prevent CPS officials from keeping the newborn without his mother in foster care and keep the two in Travis County. A judge will hear the case again on Thursday.

Daily visits allowed

Another legal victory for the Mormon breakaway sect came in San Antonio on Tuesday when a judge there ruled a FLDS couple can have daily visits with their three children. In 10 days, there will be a hearing to decide their custody.

In that case, Rene Haas, attorney for FLDS member Joseph Jessop Sr., met with CPS attorneys in District Judge Michael Peden's chambers. "It is the system run amok," Haas said.

Joseph and Lori Jessop beamed after learning Peden had granted the order. They said they didn't know where the state had sent their 4-year-old daughter and 2 1/2 -year-old son, but as a nursing mother Lori Jessop has been allowed to care for her infant son, who is in a foster care facility in San Antonio, during the day.

Joseph Jessop is 27, and Lori Jessop is 25, according to court documents. They're not in a plural marriage and lived in a single-family unit at the Yearning For Zion Ranch.

Elizabeth Allen and Nancy Martinez in San Antonio contributed.

terri.langford@chron.com

lsandberg@express-news.net