Children from Texas polygamist group going home

A Texas judge has ordered the return of more than 400 children taken from a polygamist group's ranch by state authorities.

According to Monday's ruling, parents are allowed to pick up their children but can't leave Texas without court permission and must participate in parenting classes.

They have also been ordered not to interfere with any ongoing child abuse investigation and to allow the children to have psychiatric or medical exams if required.

The order comesdays after the Texas Supreme Court said child welfare officials had no right to seize hundreds of children from a west Texas polygamist ranch run by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Child welfare officials hadremoved more than 400 children from the Yearning for Zion Ranch in the town of Eldorado, about 300 kilometres northwest of San Antonio.

They entered the compound in April after a 16-year-old called an abuse hotline alleging that her husband, a 50-year-old member of the sect, beat and raped her. Authorities have yet to locate the girl and are investigating whether the call was a hoax.

Church members have accused the state of persecuting them for their faith and denied any children were abused.