Sect mothers and children are separated

Officials who took 416 children from a polygamist retreat into state custody sent many of their mothers away from the children’s temporary residence as a judge and lawyers struggled with one of the biggest child-custody cases in U.S. history.

Of the 139 women who voluntarily left the compound with their children, only those with children 4 or younger were allowed to continue staying with them, said Marissa Gonzales, a spokeswoman for the state Children’s Protective Services.

The state accuses members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints of physically and sexually abusing the youngsters. It wants to strip their parents of custody and place the children in foster care or put them up for adoption.