The CAM scandal links and assorted other topics thread

[ken_sylvania]

I appreciate Trudy's willingness to correct her earlier misrepresentation of the ASC.

I think, however, that this serves to underscore why it is irresponsible to be so quick to publish "facts." Considering her description in today's post of how she learned about the ASC's supposed involvement in the case, I would say she really had no excuse to write the following.

His church and family have recruited the support of the Amish Steering Committee (ASC), a team of Amish men who come up with a Restoration Plan to be presented to law enforcement, to help Anabaptist sex offenders escape prison as consequences. A powerful committee, these men boast having had only 2 men sentenced to prison, of over 100 brought to them, in their two [edit: and a half] years since being implemented. People seem hopeful that the ASC will be able to keep this serial child molester out of prison.

Now imagine if this had been an allegation sent in to her new "sex offender list."

I reckon also that maybe his family shouldn't have been spreading these "facts."

Absolutely.

If it turns out that someone's recruiting the ASC because they sexually molested a child then maybe they should be worried.

Maybe who should be worried?

[Aurien]

I appreciate Trudy's willingness to correct her earlier misrepresentation of the ASC.

I think, however, that this serves to underscore why it is irresponsible to be so quick to publish "facts." Considering her description in today's post of how she learned about the ASC's supposed involvement in the case, I would say she really had no excuse to write the following.


Now imagine if this had been an allegation sent in to her new "sex offender list."

I reckon also that maybe his family shouldn't have been spreading these "facts."

Absolutely.

If it turns out that someone's recruiting the ASC because they sexually molested a child then maybe they should be worried.

Maybe who should be worried?

If it turns out that someone's recruiting the ASC because they sexually molested a child then maybe the person who sexually molested a child should be worried.
I hope that makes it clearer.

[Judas Maccabeus]

I appreciate Trudy's willingness to correct her earlier misrepresentation of the ASC.

I think, however, that this serves to underscore why it is irresponsible to be so quick to publish "facts." Considering her description in today's post of how she learned about the ASC's supposed involvement in the case, I would say she really had no excuse to write the following.

His church and family have recruited the support of the Amish Steering Committee (ASC), a team of Amish men who come up with a Restoration Plan to be presented to law enforcement, to help Anabaptist sex offenders escape prison as consequences. A powerful committee, these men boast having had only 2 men sentenced to prison, of over 100 brought to them, in their two [edit: and a half] years since being implemented. People seem hopeful that the ASC will be able to keep this serial child molester out of prison.

Now imagine if this had been an allegation sent in to her new "sex offender list."

I reckon also that maybe his family shouldn't have been spreading these "facts."
If it turns out that someone's recruiting the ASC because they sexually molested a child then maybe they should be worried.
I'm going to post part of Trudy's blog post and her FB update below for those who wish to refresh their memory.

From her blog post:

"UPDATE: Someone has reached out to suggest we form a team to manage the list. I am reaching out to a medical doctor and several other professionals to seek such support.
NOTE: Please do not send ‘speculation’ cases. There must be at least one confirmed victim, and the victim(s) must be willing to confirm. Send cases only if you are the victim, or the victims’ immediate family or if the victim has requested you send the info. Only credibly accused will make the list, and the more information that is included, the more credible. Vague, rumour-based accusations with no specific information will not be included. (Church confessions to ‘immoral failure’, in which the deviance is known to be against a child, is not speculation. That’s about as solid evidence as gets produced in our culture).
In the body of the email copy and paste the following and fill in all information, especially what has asterisks:
Name of offender:
Gender of Offender:
*Citizenship of Offender:
Date (or year) of offence:
Offender’s church at time of offence:
Was the offender a church/ministry leader (YES/NO):
If yes, what was the name of the church/ministry:
* Is offender currently in leadership:
If yes, what church/ministry:
*Age of offender at time of offence:
*Age of victim at time of offence:
*Offence committed (ie: rape; molestation etc):
*Any confirmed current minor victims (YES/NO):
*State/Province & Country of offence:
Reported to law YES/NO:
Handled by (Church Discipline/Law/Both):
Name of church leader(s) who knew:
Address of church leader (if known):
Approximate age of church leader (DOB if known):
*Name of church:
Address of Church:
*Church Affiliation (Eastern; BMA; Charity etc):
Any additional information that may be helpful:"

From her FB update:

"Regarding an OFFENDER WATCH LIST:
There is much 'upset' over my proposed Offender Watch list. Read the following, and if you wish, revisit my blog. I've done updates:
• I am asking for men *and* women to be reported. This is not against men. It is against abuse, and for victims.
• the list is a watch list, not a formal sex offender registry; it would be up to law enforcement to investigate.
• No one on the list would be 'guilty'; they simply would not be able to work in a vulnerable country
• This study indicate 2% of allegations are false:
https://web.stanford.edu/group/maan/cgi ... age_id=297
• This 10 year study indicates between 2% and 10%:
Lisak, D., Gardinier, L., Nicksa, S. C., & Cote, A. M. (2010). False allegations of sexual assault: An analysis of ten years of reported cases. Violence Against Women, 16, 1318-1334. doi:10.1177/1077801210387747
• the list would be proactive in that it would be given to officials in vulnerable countries to alert them to screen those workers more closely
• it would not be made public in any way, so it would only come into play if someone with allegations against them would try to go to a vulnerable country.
• being on the list does not make the accused guilt
• being interviewed by the country they go to serve, and being cleared, does not make them innocent"

No physician with the sense of gravel would participate in this. GREAT way to loose ones license.

Not to mention being sued into oblivion.

J.M.

[joshuabgood]

I am posting this on behalf of, and at the request of, Stanley Fox.

Stanley Fox’s Personal Statement June 21, 2019

This is my personal statement regarding the Jeriah Mast abuse situation in Haiti. My desire is to be transparent, to promote the truth, and to foster healing for Jeriah’s victims. Please understand this is not an official Christian Aid Ministries statement nor has CAM asked me to make this statement. I want to express my deep sorrow for the many victims involved and desperately wish I would have handled the following situation differently. I am so sorry that this has happened to innocent children; my heart bleeds for them.

I had no knowledge Jeriah was a pedophile when he was sent home in 2013. My understanding was CAM sent Jeriah home because he was involved in homosexuality. I was not involved in hiring Jeriah initially nor in the decision to allow Jeriah to return to Haiti. In 2017, an adult friend confided in me that Jeriah had sexual contact with him and his older brother. In that conversation, I asked him whether Jeriah's mission authorities knew about this incident and if it had been addressed and resolved. He confirmed people in mission authority were aware of the situation and informed me Jeriah went to the victim’s home community to express repentance and seek forgiveness. I wrongfully concluded that the issues had been thoroughly resolved. Even though I did not know in what year the abuse took place nor how old they were until June 2019, I deeply regret I did not pursue the incident further at that point and I take responsibility for not following through. I was able to have a phone conversation with the older brother on June 15, 2019 to express my regret and seek forgiveness for not pursuing the 2017 revelation further. I did not know of any other cases of Jeriah’s sinful activity until they were exposed in May 2019 after Jeriah fled Haiti.

It has been a privilege and blessing to serve alongside the wonderful people of Haiti and I love and care for them deeply. My deepest desire is that these victims, their families, and communities find healing and restoration. I am more concerned about the wellbeing and healing of the victims than I am about myself and am willing to relinquish my position at CAM or even resign if CAM so wishes. May God bless all those who are reaching out to bring healing to the hurting people in Haiti.


-Stanley Fox

[Pelerin]

I hope this comes across as constructive criticism:

One thing that’s frustrated me is that Trudy isn’t a careful writer. I’ve raised my eyebrows at a few things she’s said, and I’ve questioned some of her word choices. I’ve largely given her the benefit of the doubt, partly because some of those things line up with what I know from other sources.

I understand she wants to be the passionate blog writer writing for her cause, but like it or not, she’s also put on a journalist hat. People come to her mainly for the facts she has and no one else does. It’s not that she can’t do both, but she needs to keep her facts and her opinions and interpretations clear and separate: “Here are the facts, and based on that, here is my take.” Both aspects will be stronger for it.

Something else that would help quite a bit of if she would cite sources for her statements. That doesn’t necessarily mean naming names; it can be something like “two people familiar with the discussion told me…” or “according to someone with firsthand knowledge of the situation…”. This communicates with the reader how much confidence should be placed in a particular statement.

As an illustration then, the original post might have been written, based on what she understood when she published it:

• “I spoke with a member of Jeriah’s family, who told me that his church and family have recruited the Amish Steering Committee (ASC), a group I had not heard of before, to assist in his case. The family member explained that the ASC is a group of Amish men that assists Anabaptist sex offenders. They will come up with a Restoration Plan to be presented to law enforcement and the family is hopeful that this will help Jeriah avoid prison time. Of over the one hundred cases they have worked with in the two years they have been operating, only two have resulted in prison time. I have reached out to get more information, but I have not been able to contact them.”

Then, if she wants to state her opinion (I don’t think she needs to), she might say something like:

• “Although the family member seemed impressed by their record, helping all but two sex offenders avoid the consequences of their actions is not a record to boast of.”

That lays out the facts, as she understand them, and is also clear about the limits of her knowledge. If it were written like that, I don’t think she would feel the need to be so defensive when she corrects and clarifies some of those facts in this latest post.

[ohio jones]

I understand she wants to be the passionate blog writer writing for her cause, but like it or not, she’s also put on a journalist hat.

One major difference, of course, is that journalists have editors; bloggers (and forum posters) generally don't. That second set of eyes can be valuable in clarifying facts, sources, and opinions from a less emotionally involved point of view. The scope of this case and the number of people interested in it and impacted by it would seem to justify that approach, in my opinion.

[Aurien]

I am posting this on behalf of, and at the request of, Stanley Fox.

Stanley Fox’s Personal Statement June 21, 2019

This is my personal statement regarding the Jeriah Mast abuse situation in Haiti. My desire is to be transparent, to promote the truth, and to foster healing for Jeriah’s victims. Please understand this is not an official Christian Aid Ministries statement nor has CAM asked me to make this statement. I want to express my deep sorrow for the many victims involved and desperately wish I would have handled the following situation differently. I am so sorry that this has happened to innocent children; my heart bleeds for them.

I had no knowledge Jeriah was a pedophile when he was sent home in 2013. My understanding was CAM sent Jeriah home because he was involved in homosexuality. I was not involved in hiring Jeriah initially nor in the decision to allow Jeriah to return to Haiti. In 2017, an adult friend confided in me that Jeriah had sexual contact with him and his older brother. In that conversation, I asked him whether Jeriah's mission authorities knew about this incident and if it had been addressed and resolved. He confirmed people in mission authority were aware of the situation and informed me Jeriah went to the victim’s home community to express repentance and seek forgiveness. I wrongfully concluded that the issues had been thoroughly resolved. Even though I did not know in what year the abuse took place nor how old they were until June 2019, I deeply regret I did not pursue the incident further at that point and I take responsibility for not following through. I was able to have a phone conversation with the older brother on June 15, 2019 to express my regret and seek forgiveness for not pursuing the 2017 revelation further. I did not know of any other cases of Jeriah’s sinful activity until they were exposed in May 2019 after Jeriah fled Haiti.

It has been a privilege and blessing to serve alongside the wonderful people of Haiti and I love and care for them deeply. My deepest desire is that these victims, their families, and communities find healing and restoration. I am more concerned about the wellbeing and healing of the victims than I am about myself and am willing to relinquish my position at CAM or even resign if CAM so wishes. May God bless all those who are reaching out to bring healing to the hurting people in Haiti.


-Stanley Fox

Did Mr. Fox say why he waited until today to give a statement?

I think his statement underscores the need for education about sexual abuse in Anabaptist churches.

[Aurien]

I hope this comes across as constructive criticism:

One thing that’s frustrated me is that Trudy isn’t a careful writer. I’ve raised my eyebrows at a few things she’s said, and I’ve questioned some of her word choices. I’ve largely given her the benefit of the doubt, partly because some of those things line up with what I know from other sources.

I understand she wants to be the passionate blog writer writing for her cause, but like it or not, she’s also put on a journalist hat. People come to her mainly for the facts she has and no one else does. It’s not that she can’t do both, but she needs to keep her facts and her opinions and interpretations clear and separate: “Here are the facts, and based on that, here is my take.” Both aspects will be stronger for it.

Something else that would help quite a bit of if she would cite sources for her statements. That doesn’t necessarily mean naming names; it can be something like “two people familiar with the discussion told me…” or “according to someone with firsthand knowledge of the situation…”. This communicates with the reader how much confidence should be placed in a particular statement.

As an illustration then, the original post might have been written, based on what she understood when she published it:

• “I spoke with a member of Jeriah’s family, who told me that his church and family have recruited the Amish Steering Committee (ASC), a group I had not heard of before, to assist in his case. The family member explained that the ASC is a group of Amish men that assists Anabaptist sex offenders. They will come up with a Restoration Plan to be presented to law enforcement and the family is hopeful that this will help Jeriah avoid prison time. Of over the one hundred cases they have worked with in the two years they have been operating, only two have resulted in prison time. I have reached out to get more information, but I have not been able to contact them.”

Then, if she wants to state her opinion (I don’t think she needs to), she might say something like:

• “Although the family member seemed impressed by their record, helping all but two sex offenders avoid the consequences of their actions is not a record to boast of.”

That lays out the facts, as she understand them, and is also clear about the limits of her knowledge. If it were written like that, I don’t think she would feel the need to be so defensive when she corrects and clarifies some of those facts in this latest post.

Perhaps you could contact her to offer to help her write the posts.

[joshuabgood]

Did Mr. Fox say why he waited until today to give a statement?

Aslanhasheard, that's a fair question, for a statement regarding something so painful for the victims, he wished to take some time, thought and prayer to think carefully about his statement prior to releasing it.

[Grace]

I appreciate Trudy's willingness to correct her earlier misrepresentation of the ASC.

I think, however, that this serves to underscore why it is irresponsible to be so quick to publish "facts." Considering her description in today's post of how she learned about the ASC's supposed involvement in the case, I would say she really had no excuse to write the following.

His church and family have recruited the support of the Amish Steering Committee (ASC), a team of Amish men who come up with a Restoration Plan to be presented to law enforcement, to help Anabaptist sex offenders escape prison as consequences. A powerful committee, these men boast having had only 2 men sentenced to prison, of over 100 brought to them, in their two [edit: and a half] years since being implemented. People seem hopeful that the ASC will be able to keep this serial child molester out of prison.

Now imagine if this had been an allegation sent in to her new "sex offender list."

Given her propensity at giving out inaccurate details, the thought of her overseeing a “watch list” is chilling. Especially when mere allegations could get a person on that list.

It sounds like she is pursuing another ministry. The question is, if she finds anything, will she give that organization adequate time to resolve the issue before she starts splashing information out there?