Only child from Texas polygamist sect ranch left in foster care to go to a relative’s home

Alleged underage bride to leave Texas foster care

SAN ANGELO, Texas — A judge is allowing the only child from a polygamist group’s West Texas ranch still in foster care to move in with a distant relative.

The 14-year-old girl was allegedly married to jailed polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs when she was 12.

Texas District Judge Barbara Walther on Thursday said the teenager can move in with the relative next week. State officials will monitor her case.

She had been among the 439 children returned to their parents in June after the Texas Supreme Court ruled that the state overstepped when it put all the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints children into foster care.

But the judge ordered the girl back into foster care after her mother refused to guarantee the girl’s safety.