Child welfare officials in Texas have received scathing criticism of their decision to remove more than 450 children from the compound of a polygamous Mormon group in early April, and ordered them returned to their parents.

For the mothers and fathers, however, the sudden reversal in what had already become the biggest child custody case in the history of the United States, offered grounds for unexpected hope. "I just feel like I'm coming back to life," said Nancy Dockstader, whose five children were among those seized last month during the raid on the sect's Yearning for Zion ranch in the tiny town of Eldorado in the west of the state. "We can be a family again. It's just unreal."

Seven weeks ago, officials from the state's Family and Protective Services department, accompanied by armed police, raided the ranch and began escorting bewildered mothers and children to waiting buses.

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Now, however, the entire case presented by the department contending that the children were in imminent danger of sexual abuse appears to be unravelling. The state yesterday said it was planning to file an appeal of its own to the Texas Supreme Court to reverse Thursday's ruling.

The Third Court of Appeals, acting on a suit brought by lawyers on behalf of 38 mothers, said in a unanimous decision that the state did not have the evidence of ongoing sexual abuse necessary to justify the summary removal of the children and the separation from their mothers.

District Court Judge Barbara Weather, who originally ruled in favour of putting the children in foster care, has been given 10 days to release them from the state's custody. Even though the appellate court was speaking only to the 38 mothers, its ruling is likely to apply to all the children. An appeal by the state, however, could delay the date for the return of the children to the ranch.

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