Taylor Frankie Paul's Children Were Not Removed After 2023 Assault

Taylor Frankie Paul's children were not removed from her custody after the 2023 incident captured on video, when she attacked Dakota Mortensen and, in the process, inadvertently struck one of her children with a barstool.

Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ ... Utah's Division of Children and Family Services was notified of the incident. In Utah, there's a mandatory reporting requirement by police, and sources connected to DCFS tell TMZ that's how the agency learned of the incident.

As we reported, the police had the video TMZ posted Thursday -- they even reference it in the police report.

A source connected to the DCFS investigation tells TMZ why TFP's 2 children (she had a third child after the incident) were not removed from her home. We're told the agency has a policy of only removing children from their parents when there is an immediate danger. Our source says the video shows the child who was struck by the barstool was not the intended target -- it ricocheted and struck her.

We asked the source if it was relevant that Taylor didn't immediately comfort her crying 5-year-old after she was struck ... whether that constituted negligence. The source did not know how, if at all, that factored in DCFS's ultimate decision.

We've learned ... after the incident, Tate Paul -- the father of the 2 children -- had his lawyer go to Taylor's attorney and demand full custody of the kids. Her lawyer agreed to change custody from joint to full custody. We're also told that Taylor agreed to take alcohol education classes and undergo various exams ... and over a period of 6 months, she regained around 50% custody.

And, we're told, neither the police nor DCFS would show Tate the video of the incident, and that Taylor had denied one of their kids was struck. Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ Tate -- who saw the video only after TMZ posted it Thursday -- is outraged, and would have demanded prosecutors go after Taylor for child abuse had he seen it.