MK forum

MKs/ former NTmers/ other interested readers: You are finally getting it!!!

It's a nail that has been there all the time. Just so terribly hard to believe. Unless you have been thru it.

Hitting the nail on the head. Now what?

HOW DO WE DEMAND GRACE?

I would like to speak to the issue of "independant" investigations. Pat Hendirx is outside of NTM, but according to the intro she wrote she is using CSPN in her investigations and implies that she will draw from CSPN for her investigators. Scott Ross was one of the founders of CSPN, and it's worth checking out his current role. CSPN's policy is that all investigations will be done by "outside agencies"; they define "outside agencies" as being one of the 40 mission agencies and denominations that are a part of CSPN. So the teams of investigators belong to the same agency (CSPN) as the mission being investigated.

All of this speaks to collusion, of course. And to our reality that the individual mission communities we grew up in were "family". And the larger mission community was extended family. As we know, family members traditionally don't blow the whistle on others in the family.

If you do go ahead with Pat Hendrix and her team, here is a sample list of questions to ask each of the members on the investigatory team:

What organization do you work for?
Describe the organization and your responsibilities in the organization.
Is your employer a member agency of CSPN?

Have you worked for any mission agencies, and if so which ones? Are they a member agency of CSPN?
If you were a missionary, what countries did you work in, i.e. were you in proximity to the schools that are being investigated? Do you know any missionaries
who work in that country?

Have you served on any committees with NTM personnel, or worked on joint mission projects with NTM missionaries or other NTM staff?
Have you done any joint investigations with NTM personnel?

Other than training provided by CSPN, do you have any special education connected with childhood trauma?

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While I am on this topic, one further note. There is at least one person in the list of professionals that Pat Hendrix mentioned who has a background in law enforcement. The person she refers to may be a real asset to the investigation. But everyone needs to be checked out, regardless of their professional history.

One of the tragedies in the denomination I come from, the C&MA, involved a violent pedophile at Quito Alliance Academy. The C&MA discreetly fired him. When he returned to the States, he became a California State Patrol officer. I am absolutely certain he is not the person Pat Hendrix referred to. My point is that it is worth checking out everyone involved in your investigations as long as the investigations are being handled internally.

You have good companionship on this blog.

Beverly

"For evil to flourish, it is only necessary that good men do nothing."

Gene wrote: "There is, of course, another way to approach an investigation. NTO can be compelled to cooperate."

Just to clarify -- not that I am an expert about such matters, by any means, so perhaps someone else could clarify even further, but -- if an MK abuse survivor pursues a lawsuit, I don't believe that would compel an investigation. It could compel NTM to give that particular MK a financial settlement, but I can't see a scenario in which such a lawsuit would compel the cooperation of NTM in investigating abuses inflicted on other MKs who were a part of that MK's school or dorm.

In fact, I see quite the opposite as being a -- probably unintended -- consequence, which is that if an MK has retained a lawyer, that could cause NTM to clam up totally in regard to that particular school. I would think NTM would be advised by their lawyer to stop communicating with other MKs or their families from that school, because anything they say could and would be used against them. Which, in effect, cuts off hope for other survivors of seeing any progress they might have been working toward and praying for outside of a courtroom.

I am not intending this to be a judgment of those who pursue justice through the court system. I support the right of any MK abuse survivor to do whatever they feel they need to do to achieve some measure of recovery and healing from the pain they suffer.

But I don't see that a lawsuit would force NTM to do the type of investigation into the full picture of abuse that has taken place on a particular field or school, in the way that the GRACE investigation did.

So may I say, again: Please, NTM ... WE WANT GRACE!!!

So sad that it`s ok to bully if you are angry and bitter but it`s not ok for ntm to bully.

Raz, you make a very good point indeed.