Texas judge orders Oklahomaâ€™s DHS to take custody of little girl

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- A Texas judge has ordered the Oklahoma Department of Human Services to take custody of a little girl who is at the center of a custody dispute.<br/><br/>The order came in a hearing

Friday, December 30th 2005, 6:07 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- A Texas judge has ordered the Oklahoma Department of Human Services to take custody of a little girl who is at the center of a custody dispute.

The order came in a hearing Thursday that arose after Hays County authorities found the 7-year-old child at the home of a couple.

A second hearing is set for Tuesday in Hays County, Texas, in which Misty Van-Zandt -- the girl's mother -- is expected to challenge DHS's custodial claims.

Misty Van-Zandt filed for divorce from Tregg Van-Zandt in June 2002, a day after she claimed her mother reported finding redness around the child's vagina. A dermatologist and two pediatricians later determined the girl had genital warts, a sexually transmitted disease.

Van-Zandt accused him of molesting their daughter, which Tregg Van-Zandt denies.

Misty Van-Zandt then left Oklahoma in late 2002 after a judge granted the girl's father overnight visits.

Texas authorities found Misty two years later in Gladewater, Texas, where she had joined a church.

A judge ordered Misty Van-Zandt released from jail earlier this month after she disclosed where she left her daughter in 2004.