A 14-year-old girl allegedly married to polygamist group leader Warren Jeffs when she was 12 may be placed permanently in Texas state custody.
Family and Protective Services Commissioner Anne Heilingenstein (HIEL-gen-STIN') said during a legislative hearing on Tuesday that Child Protective Services would seek permanent custody of the girl because efforts to reunite her with her parents have failed.
The girl is the only one of the 439 children taken from the Yearning For Zion Ranch last year still under court oversight. She has been in temporary foster care since last August.
Jeffs leads the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He was convicted in Utah as an accomplice to rape and awaits trial on charges in Arizona and Texas related to underage marriages.
