HOUSTON -- Carolyn Jessop, a 40-year-old mother of eight, lived on the FLDS compound ruled by Warren Jeffs in Arizona for most of her life.

So when she heard about a court ruling Thursday that condemned the state’s seizure of hundreds of children from an FLDS ranch in West Texas, she was particularly upset.

“Absolutely tragic. I am actually horrified a judge would make that decision,” Jessop said.

Jessop said she saw a future for the children who were taken from the ranch, but the ruling was a huge blow to that hope.

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Carolyn Jessop

“Even the remote concept, the remote concept they could be handed back when this level of child abuse is being exposed, it’s unbelievable to me,” she said.

Jessop was 18 when she married a 50-year-old man on the FLDS compound in Arizona. He had four wives and 34 kids.

Five years ago, it just got to be too much for Jessop, and she left.

“I started realizing he was setting marriages to 14, and my daughter was turning 14 in a matter of months,” she said.

Jessop now lives with her children in Utah, but on the day the ruling came down, she was in Spring teaching a seminar.

“What’s to be gained by just putting them back, put ‘em back and pretend it didn’t happen? I mean, it makes no sense,” she said.

Jessop shared her experience at Arrow Child and Family Services. They have a camp that houses 75 kids.  It’s a long-term facility, meaning kids could be there for five months or five years.

Before the ruling, the staff at Arrow was preparing for FLDS kids to arrive, possibly in two weeks.

They said they’re still moving forward with those plans.

“It’s a very serene environment. It’s 110 acres, it is not secluded, not a compound, but a county rural setting complete with amenities,” Mark Tennant of Arrow Family & Child Ministries said.

Still, it’s unclear if the FLDS kids will ever get to Arrow.

But Jessop says that having the kids back at the El Dorado compound is her worst fear.

“It’s horrible. It’s atrocious,” she said.