Sect mother in Texas allowed to stay with children

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Of nearly 170 mothers whose children have been removed from the Texas compound of a fundamentalist Mormon sect, Pamela Jeffs Jessop now stands alone.Attorneys for the 18-year-old mother of two and the state's Child Protective Services agency reached an agreement that will allow Jessop to stay with both her children -- not just baby Jonathan, the newborn to whom she gave birth two weeks ago."As far as I know, no other parent in this case has that," said attorney Natalie Malonis, appointed to represent the mother, whose other child is 21-month-old Matthew Jeffs. "I'm pleased that CPS agreed to that. I'm very pleased."In the massive Yearning for Zion Ranch custody case, the state welfare agency has allowed only juvenile mothers and adult mothers of nursing infants younger than 1 to stay with their children in foster care. The case began with an early April raid on the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints compound near Eldorado in Schleicher County.Jessop, who was released from state custody last week after officials determined she was in fact an adult, had nevertheless stood to lose access to her 21-month-old son, Matthew Jeffs.Instead, at a custody hearing Friday, Malonis and co-counsel Andrea Sloan worked with the state to have Jessop named a "possessory conservator" of her two children, a technical term that allows her to stay with them even as the state maintains official temporary custody.It also gives Jessop certain rights to information about her children, Malonis said.Although Jessop gave birth in San Marcos, she is likely to move soon to a facility that will accommodate her and both her children, Malonis said.(Contact Paul A. Anthony of the Standard Times in San Angelo, Texas, at www.texaswest.com.)