Gene Disorder Complicates YFZ Sect Custody Fight
Inbreeding.
*shakes head*
Lawyers for the mothers of 462 children taken from a polygamist ranch in West Texas will ask a state appeals court for relief, but the process is slowed by problems in determining the children’s parentage. Texas family law officials continue to investigate allegations of physical and sexual abuse. Wade Goodwyn and Liane Hansen discuss the legal proceedings.
Meanwhile, some of the children in the FLDS group suffer from fumarase deficiency, a genetic disease that causes acute retardation and physical deformation. The disease was spread through decades of inbreeding, according to John Dougherty, an investigative reporter who has written extensively about the polygamist sect.