Teen-Age Girl Flees Polygamous
Family But Is Sent Back
ST. GEORGE, -- A 15-year-old girl who ran away from her polygamous
family, saying they planned to force her into an arranged
marriage, was returned to her family Thursday by Washington County
author-ities. People who helped the girl run away said her family
told her they had planned her marriage to Warren Jeffs, the No. 2
leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day
Saints and the son of its top leader, Rulon Jeffs. The sect is
based in the border communities of Colorado City,
Ariz., and Hildale, Utah. Activists and sympathetic family members
contacted state and county officials to arrange protective
custody.
"We had
offered [to] the Sheriff's Department that we would provide
shelter and were waiting to hear whether they were going to
provide shelter, and we never heard from them," Janina Chilton of
the Utah Department of Human Services told KSL-TV. "We just found
out the girl had been released back to her family, so we will
certainly start an investigation at this point." The Sheriff's
Department released the girl to her family after members promised
to let her make her own marriage choices and live with relatives
outside the polygamist group. Anti-polygamy activists were not
happy with the decision.
"I
think the state made a big mistake. This 15-year-old girl has
mustered a great amount of courage to do what she did, only to
find out that child protective services would not even interview
her," said Doug White, an attorney for the group Tapestry Against
Polygamy. The teen was on vacation in Salt Lake City last week and
did not want to return to Colorado City. She stayed with a cousin
who contacted Hurricane resident Jay Beswick, an advocate with the
child-abuse prevention organization For Kids' Sake, and St. George
resident Les Zitting, who is trying to start a support group for
those who want to leave the FLDS Church. The teen stayed with
Beswick and then Zitting from Monday until Wednesday.
Washington County Deputy Sheriff Kurt Wright arranged a meeting
with Zitting, the teen, the teen's parents and Sheriff Kirk Smith.
The parents agreed to let the girl stay with an uncle who has left
the FLDS Church. Smith and Wright said because the girl is a
minor, the parents have the right to decide where their daughter
lives.
