Another child has been born to a woman taken into Texas custody in the raid on the Fundamentalist LDS Church's YFZ Ranch.
The young woman gave birth to a boy around noon Monday.
"There was a birth," said Texas Department of Family and Protective Services spokeswoman Marleigh Meisner. "That's all I can tell you for now."
She declined to say whether the child would immediately become a ward of the state.
Rod Parker, a Salt Lake City attorney acting as a spokesman for the FLDS Church, said Child Protective Services workers were trying to move the mother from the Austin shelter where she has been staying with her other children to a shelter in San Antonio.
"This has become an issue of winning at all costs for them," he said Monday.
Parker said a judge refused to move the woman — whom he identified as Louisa Jessop, 22 — scheduling a court hearing for this morning.
The birth of this child brings the number of FLDS children in state protective custody to 465. There are 26 young women whom Texas CPS believes are minors, but FLDS leaders insist they are adults.
On April 29, another FLDS mother in state custody, Pamela Jeffs, gave birth to a baby boy in San Marcos, Texas. That child was placed in state protective custody with his mother. Parker said at the time that Jeffs was 18, but CPS believes she is underage.
Guidelines
Meanwhile, FLDS members have created guidebooks for caretakers looking after the hundreds of children taken from the polygamous sect's YFZ Ranch.
The guidelines were published on the Web site, captivefldschildren.org, offering a glimpse at child-rearing within the polygamous sect. They read like a daily schedule, with an early morning wake-up time, prayers and religious tutoring and activities in the day.
"Children who are just learning to walk love to help wash doorknobs, benches, cupboards, etc.," said the guidelines for children ages 0-2 years.
Family prayer time is at 6 a.m., followed by breakfast, chores and general activities. For children in the first through third grades, morning classes are religious training.
"The training begins with song and prayer, then the principal of the school speaks, or calls on others to bear testimony. The children hear the truths written in the Bible and Book of Mormon," one said.
Instead of toys, the FLDS guide says, the children are taught to use their time wisely by helping in the garden, cracking nuts, feeding the chickens, visiting the grandmothers or helping with community projects.
"It is true, FLDS children are not perfect, yet they are teachable, and mothers delight in the privilege to raise up their children in light and truth," it said.
In a schedule for FLDS children from the fourth grade to high school, the boys and girls are separated into different classes. The day ends with chores, singing and reading from the Book of Mormon before bedtime.
"Together with the rest of the family, the children join in prayer and song. They tell each other 'good night,' close their eyes in peaceful slumber, and dream of the bright future ahead."
Texas CPS created its own guide for foster care providers based on input from ex-FLDS members, child advocates with experience dealing with polygamous families and government officials. A CPS spokeswoman said she had not seen the FLDS guide.
Even without their parents, some who have been looking after the children have noticed their routines.
"We see a lot of time devoted to prayer," said Cheree Godwin-Smith, the director of development for the Presbyterian Home for Children in Amarillo. "They play outside, they jump rope, they crochet, they do handwork, they help cook."
She described the elementary school-aged girls in her facility as "adjusting as well as any child that's taken out of their home in a case like this."
Foster care
Last month's raid on the YFZ Ranch was prompted by a phone call from someone claiming to be a 16-year-old "Sarah," who said she was pregnant and in an abusive marriage to an older man. When child welfare workers responded to the Eldorado ranch, they said they found evidence of other abuse.
That led to a judge ordering the removal of all of the children from the YFZ Ranch. They have since been placed in foster care facilities scattered across Texas.
The commissioner of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services has been touring some of those facilities.
"He's been to a few of them," Meisner said of Commissioner Carey Cockerell's visits.
Authorities are still investigating whether the original phone call was a hoax. A Colorado woman is considered a "person of interest" in the case. Meanwhile, FLDS faithful have created a new Web site in their public relations campaign in the aftermath of the raid. Truthwillprevail.org resembles a newspaper, with articles, editorials and even political cartoons.
E-mail: bwinslow@desnews.com