http://www.abc4.com/mostpopular/story.aspx?content_id=c7ea64a0-da1b-4f62-a73f-cd5d024922f8Sterling Harker couldn't believe it. He was following news coverage on the internet of the raid of the YFZ Ranch and there she was: Phyllis. She was decrying the raid that took all 416 children from the polygamous community. Phyllis is Sterling's ex-wife. She and at least two of their children - both girls and both minors - were living at the ranch. He had no idea. He remembered, "She was bawling and pleading her case. I guess I should have been more sensitive, but I thought, what goes around comes around. She's crying; I cried. It's hard on her; it was hard on me."
With his daughters caught in the child custody mess in Texas, Sterling represents another class of parent that may have to be given standing in the court that ultimately decides the fate of the 416 children being held by Texas Child Protective Services. It's not just the people on the ranch who have a stake in what happens to the children. There in fact be several men from Colorado City who's families were taken away and sent to Texas.
Back in the late 90s, Sterling Harker made it known that he was opposed to marriages between underage girls and older men. He says that put him on Warren Jeffs' "blacklist." Jeffs would eventually take away his two wives and children and kick him out of the FLDS sect. "He just cuts people off," Sterling said. "No remorse, No consideration. Ruthless."
But with the state of Texas now in control, Sterling has at least a faint hope that he can get custody of his two youngest daughters, LaDonna, 13, and Shauna, 11. The child welfare system in Texas favors relatives over foster care as long as the children are kept from the abusive environment. Sterling still lives among the FLDS, but he no longer is a member of the sect. "All I can say is that I'm the biological father. I love my family. I have always loved them."
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