DNA samples taken from polygamist mothers, kids

SAN ANGELO, Texas (AP) — Using cotton swabs and cameras, lab technicians began taking DNA samples Monday from hundreds of children and mothers — many in long, pioneer-style dresses — in hopes of sorting out the tangled family relationships within the West Texas polygamist sect.

A judge ordered last week that the genetic material be taken to help determine which children belong to which parents.

Authorities need to figure that out before they begin custody hearings to determine which children may have been abused and need to be permanently removed from the sect compound in Eldorado, and which ones can be safely returned to the fold.

State social workers have complained that over the past few weeks, sect members have offered different names and ages.

Also, the children refer to all of their fathers’ wives as their “mothers,” and all men in their families as “uncles.”

The testing went on behind closed doors at the crowded coliseum where the children seized in the raid earlier this month on the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints are staying.