'Sister wife' gets kids

CEDAR CITY — A former polygamist wife who fled her husband's Hildale, Washington County, home after what she said were years of abuse has given guardianship of the couple's three children to a former "sister wife."

Tamara Phelps, 33, who married Orson William Black Jr. when she was 17 and he was 27, left him in the middle of the night last year without her children.

Phelps sought and received custody of her children in March but Black's legal wife, Amy, and the children soon filed suit to make Amy Black the children's legal guardian.

"This is just incredible. This poor woman has been abused and her children have been given to someone they're not even related to," said Bob Curran of the St. George-based anti-polygamy group, "Help the Child Brides."

Phelps, a woman Curran describes as timid and fearful, only signed over guardianship of her children to Amy Black because she felt bullied and intimidated, he added.

"The children lived with Amy for eight years, so of course they were brainwashed just like all the other children living out there. It's the old Stockholm syndrome," Curran said on Wednesday after a visit to Phelps, who declined to be interviewed for this story.

According to the stipulation of guardianship agreement that Phelps signed on Nov. 10 before 5th District Juvenile Court Judge Hans Q. Chamberlain, the children now live with Amy Black, who must enroll them in public school, give them a suitable place to sleep in her home and speak no ill of Phelps.

The agreement also states Phelps has visitation rights with her children and that she must encourage her children to "have a positive attitude about this relationship."

Amy Black is ordered to make certain Orson Black has no contact with the children and that she can't give her consent for any of the children to marry before their 18th birthday. She is also barred from teaching polygamy to the children or from practicing it in her home. Black is believed to be married to at least four other wives, two of whom he allegedly married when they were between the ages of 15 and 18, according to court documents in a related felony case.

On Feb. 27, Arizona authorities filed two counts of conspiracy to commit sexual conduct with a minor and three counts of sexual conduct with a minor against Black in Mohave Superior Court. All of the charges are class 6 felonies under Arizona law.

To date, a warrant for Black's arrest has not been served because Black hasn't been found. Phelps and others close to the family believe Black and his other wives and children fled to Mexico to live in a polygamous community.

"I am so worried my kids are in Mexico now," Phelps wrote in a note to Curran that was taped to Phelps' front door on Wednesday.

Black, a former member of the polygamous-based Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS), has homes in Hildale and across the border in Colorado City, Ariz.

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E-mail: nperkins@infowest.com

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