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One of two girls who fled the Kingston clan after having their ears pierced has been placed in the permanent custody and guardianship of her maternal aunt and uncle.

Monday's order by 3rd District Juvenile Court Judge Andrew Valdez leaves father John Daniel Kingston and mother Heidi Foster one step shy of losing their parental rights to the girl, 13. She is one of Kingston's estimated 120 children.

"This child needs to feel safe and protected," Valdez said.

Valdez cited the girl's diagnosis of post traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression as reasons for his decision. Defense attorneys for Kingston and Foster had objected that Valdez was issuing a pre-emptive order while psychological evaluations of the two parents are still pending.

Mark Hansen, Foster's attorney, argued the placement would doom any hope of the children returning home.

"Reunification eventually should be the goal," Hansen said. "That can't be accomplished with placement with Justin and Shauna [Mattingly]."

Justin Mattingly is

Foster's brother. He left the polygamous Kingston group years ago.

In a case that peers into the secretive relationships of the Kingstons, every issue is in dispute.

The awaited evaluations of Kingston and Foster, for instance, may involve a deliberate violation of a court order because the parents went to a different psychologist than the one specified by Valdez, the judge said. He has scheduled another hearing to investigate that allegation and has threatened the pair with jail time if it's true.

Even Foster's name has been challenged.

As the hearing opened, Valdez said the surname was a "made up person." The mother's actual surname, according to Valdez, is Mattingly.

A month ago, Valdez ordered that the last names of all 10 of Foster-Mattingly's children be legally changed to Kingston. Now established as the children's father, Kingston will be responsible for child support. The payments probably will be determined in August.

The case began in February after a confrontation involving Kingston and Foster-Mattingly's oldest daughters, ages 13 and 15. The two had their ears pierced, an act that violates the sect's tenets.

That day, the oldest girl ran away and reported she feared Kingston would beat them. Kingston had previously pleaded guilty to felony child abuse for the belt-whipping of the girl's half-sister, Mary Ann Nelson Kingston, in 1998.

Aunt Shauna Mattingly requested a protective order for the girls and they were taken into state custody on Feb. 20. The younger girl reported Kingston had physically abused her, her siblings and their mother.

The 15-year-old girl downplayed the alleged abuse. And on Monday, she asked to leave her foster home and return to her parents, a request that was denied.

Despite the older girl's testimony, Valdez ruled Kingston did abuse the two girls, as well as their mother. Valdez also determined the mother failed to protect the girls.

Kingston can't contact the two girls but is allowed supervised visits with the other children he fathered with Foster-Mattingly.

The other nine children - Foster-Mattingly gave birth to her 11th child on July 3 - have been deemed to be siblings at risk. They are currently under the supervision of the state's Division of Child and Family Service [DCFS], which visits their home several times a week.

Valdez, however, argues Foster-Mattingly's conduct is increasingly troubling to him.

"It's not just John Daniel [Kingston] that is the problem today," Valdez said. "It is her mother."

Foster-Mattingly has denied any abuse has ever occurred - in one visit, supervised by DCFS caseworkers, she implied the girl hallucinated the abuse. And in court Monday, she said the girl was on drugs, a statement that Valdez responded to by threatening to have the mother arrested.

Valdez, however, left open the possibility that the two girls might be returned home and the parents' full rights restored.

The placement of the 13-year-old "doesn't mean the parents have to throw in the towel," Valdez said. "[The parents] certainly can still do what they know they need to do."