By Ben Winslow
Deseret News

Published: Wednesday, March 4, 2009 10:29 p.m. MST

It's almost time for the spring planting, and they're trying to get the dairy up and running again.

Members of the Fundamentalist LDS Church who were scattered across Texas in the aftermath of the raid on their Yearning For Zion Ranch near Eldorado are starting to return to the sprawling property on the prairie that they called home.

"There's a lot of them that have moved back," church spokesman Willie Jessop told the Deseret News. "They're determined not to let the state break 'em. There's a resiliency. They're going to get through this."

Jessop could not say how many had moved back to the YFZ Ranch, but he estimated more than 60 percent of those who had left in the aftermath of the raid.

It has been nearly a year since law enforcement and child welfare authorities went to the YFZ Ranch seeking a pregnant teenage girl who claimed to be in an abusive, polygamous marriage to an older man. The call, now believed to be a hoax, prompted the removal of 439 children and created the largest child custody case in U.S. history.

Texas Child Protective Services claimed a pattern of abuse, where girls were groomed to be child brides and boys would grow up to be sexual perpetrators. The children were scattered to foster care facilities across the Lone Star State and their parents went with them, trying to carve out a new life away from the communal living of the YFZ Ranch.

Two months after the April raid, a pair of Texas courts ordered the children returned, saying the state acted improperly and the children were not at immediate risk of abuse. Still, families were reluctant to return to the ranch because they were under CPS oversight.

The massive child custody case has dwindled to only two children who remain under court oversight. One is a 14-year-old girl authorities allege was married at age 12 to FLDS leader Warren Jeffs. The other is a girl state authorities claim was married at 14 and gave birth to a boy at 16. (She is 17 now.)

Texas CPS officials confirmed to the Deseret News on Tuesday that aside from the two cases still pending, the remaining families are no longer required to attend classes, counseling or be followed up on by caseworkers.

"We worked closely with all of the families, through the services we offered and through the work and monitoring by our caseworkers, to ensure that the children were safe and protected," agency spokesman Patrick Crimmins said. "With the exception of two children, CPS is now out of these cases entirely."

With families returning, the only thing missing, Jessop says, is their memories.

"Why hasn't anything been returned?" he asked. "Why can't we get a baby picture, diaries, genealogy books? That's a question that's plaguing the community. It's a 24-hour reminder that we're still under siege."

Most of that is evidence seized by law enforcement during the raid. A dozen men (including Jeffs) have been indicted by a rural Texas grand jury on charges related to underage marriages. A federal grand jury is also apparently investigating the church and its members.

Jessop said FLDS faithful are still determined to come back to the ranch.

"They're doing all they can to put their lives back together," he said.

E-MAIL: bwinslow@desnews.com

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,705288824,00.html

Emphasis added by H4K Editor