Polygamist children’s isolation defended
17/4/08
Officials on Tuesday defended their decision to suddenly separate mothers from many of the children taken in a raid on a polygamist ranch in West Texas. Texas Children’s Protective Services spokeswoman Marleigh Meisner said they separated children from their mothers on Monday after they decided that children are more truthful in interviews about possible abuse if their parents are not around. When state troopers and child welfare officials seized 416 children from the compound, 139 women accompanied them on their own and had been allowed to stay with the children until Monday, when they were driven back to the compound. Only women with children under 5 could stay at the San Angelo Coliseum where they were being held.