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After they left the polygamist community, Carolyn enrolled her children in public school. Though she encouraged her children to leave the past behind, she says Betty, a middle school student at the time, refused to give up her hairstyle and traditional dress.

"It was something that I spoke with the school about before she entered the school. I was terribly concerned that she would be mistreated," she says. "[They] assured me that they would protect her in every way possible, and from everything that I was aware of, they did that."

Gayle, a mom of two, says even if the school tried to protect Betty, the transition couldn't have been easy. "The kids will still be looking at her definitely as the odd man out," she says. "I don't know how you overcome that."

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