Family Law

Judge Orders DNA Testing of 416 Kids; Sect Reconsiders Sex With Minors

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More than 400 children removed from a polygamous sect on suspicions that they are being subjected to abuse or are at risk will undergo DNA testing this week so their complicated family connections can be sorted out.

Judge Barbara Walther, who is presiding over what is considered the largest, most complicated child custody case in U.S. history, ordered the tests after state authorities complained that members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints have changed names, possibly lied about ages and appeared to have difficulty naming relatives, the Associated Press reports.

Members of the sect told CBS this morning that they will cooperate with the testing if it means they can get their children back.

“Whatever we need to do to get them back in their peaceful homes,” a man identified as “Rulan” is quoted saying. This is the first time male members of the sect have spoken publicly since the children were removed during raids earlier this month.

Prosecutors have justified removing 416 children from the sect’s compound by arguing that the FLDS encourages underage marriages and births, subjecting children to sexual abuse.

“Rulan” told CBS that sect members are reconsidering whether girls younger than 18 should have sex with adult men.

“Many of us perhaps were not even aware of such a law,” he says. “And we do reconsider, yes. We teach our children to abide the law.”