Texas Polygamy Compound

In April of 2008, over 400 children, newborns to teens, were removed from a religious groups Yearning for Zion (YFZ) ranch in Texas.  The 1,700-acre ranch is like it’s own small town with a temple, doctor’s office, school, and even factories.  The ranch, however, is five miles off the highway beyond a double gate.  The children of the ranch, from a polygamist sect, have been put into foster care and have been treated as a single group of abused and at-risk kids.  Forced marriage and sexual abuse were pervasive inside the Texas compound.  Female children were made to accept spiritual marriages to the adult members of the YFZ ranch, resulting in them being sexually abused.  In turn, young men on the ranch were spiritually married to minor female children.  The governmental raid on the compound was started when a 16-year-old mother called a family violence center to say that she had been abused by her 50-year-old husband and was seeking help in departing the property.
            Upon the ranch, the women and girls spend most of their day caring for the many children, tilling the gardens, and quilting.  They dressed in pioneer style clothing sewn by their own hands.

FLDS Compound in Texas

Last Updated: May 15, 2007
By: Heather G. and Adrienne M.