Sect teen shows up w/ wrong baby

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/6290129.html

Excerpt

SAN ANTONIO — Texas child welfare authorities have asked a judge to order a 17-year-old mother from a polygamist sect to submit to a psychological evaluation after she showed up to an appointment with Child Protective Services claiming someone else's child was hers.

The teen had previously refused to disclose the whereabouts of her infant born in June, when she was 16 and shortly after she and the other 437 children taken from the Yearning For Zion Ranch in Eldorado were returned to their parents from foster care.

The teen produced a baby purported to be her biological child for an appointment with CPS, but DNA tests taken during the appointment revealed she is not the infant's biological mother, said CPS attorney John Dolezal in a court filing on Thursday.

State officials believe the girl was married to a man in the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints when she was 14. In Texas, someone younger than 17 generally cannot consent to sex with an adult, and The Associated Press is withholding her name because it generally does not name possible victims of sex crimes.

"It appears that (the girl) has been separated from her child," Dolezal said in the filing.

The agency is also concerned the girl is "being improperly influenced, against her best interest, into making choices to not produce her child and to produce another individual's child," he wrote.

CPS officials have said they want to ensure the infant is safe and are not seeking custody.

The girl's attorney, Kelly Ellis, is on maternity leave and couldn't immediately be reached for comment on Monday.

FLDS spokesman Willie Jessop said that while he was unfamiliar with the latest dispute in the case, the girl previously said she feared the agency would try to take the infant if she allowed officials to examine the baby.

"The department has reaffirmed that they're not trustworthy. She was concerned that they would take the baby," Jessop said.

A hearing in the teen's case is scheduled for Friday.

Her case is one of just two remaining cases in what was initially one of the largest custody cases in U.S. history.