What you can do

Lydia asked me for some specifics on what sort of concrete action can be taken. Here are some of my thoughts and specific things that can be done.

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1. Write about what you know
There is a need for detailed accounts of the specifics of the criminal activities committed by The Family.

a. Affidavits
While I don’t discount the value of publishing accounts on the internet, an affidavit holds much more weight in terms of assisting with concrete action. Any one that has done something like this in the past knows how difficult it can be, emotionally and otherwise, to write the details of first hand experiences. However, it is only by us speaking what we know that these people will ever be brought to justice.

b. Write about FCF projects run by abusers
The fact that there is an organization run by a top Family leader with projects run by child abusers is so horrific that it is almost unbelievable. The fact that this organization claims to not be affiliated with the Family and lied on their tax exemption application regarding this is incredible, even more so is the fact that they have pretty much gotten away with it.
Lists of the projects and people involved have been published.
http://www.movingon.org/article.asp?sID=1&Cat=31&ID=1819
If you have first hand knowledge of abuse committed by these people, write an affidavit and send it to Daniel.

c. Write details of illegal activities
If you have first hand knowledge of child abuse, tax and welfare fraud, running escort services and prostitution rings, trafficking children and women, blackmail, etc. write an affidavit and send it to Daniel.

2. Support a young person who is struggling
Young people are leaving the group at an unprecedented rate. While many have older brothers and sisters or friends that can help them get started, many others have no one. For those of us with younger brothers and sisters, it can still be overwhelming to do everything ourselves. I am the oldest of 11, all of whom show up at my door one by one. I understand that the first priority is to one’s own family and children and no one can save the world, but offering support to just one person can do more to help than you might realise.

a. Emotional support
There are a couple of FG exmembers who have been incredible friends and have given me a great deal of support for many years. This has NEVER involved preaching at or “witnessing” to me. They have simply been there when I needed to cry, scream or rant. They have let me at times be needy, emotional and irrational without judgement and have just accepted me for who I am, the good and the bad. Having never experienced this before with anyone from my parent’s generation, they have done more to help me than they will probably ever know.

b. Financial and material support
There are people who have been able to take in a young person who wanted to leave. Having a safe, supportive place to stay can do a world of good. Sponsor a young person. Invest time, money and effort into seeing them succeed. The majority of young people want to do well and are willing to put the work needed into overcoming the obstacles. At a time of crisis in my own life many years ago, a loan from an FG ex-member meant the difference between re-entering the sex trade and getting into university and a web design training program.

c. Professional support
Many FGs who have been out for some time are established professionals and run their own businesses, have advanced degrees, highly qualified skills, etc. Your professional knowledge and support can help a great deal. Hire a young person and provide them with occupational training. Help them navigate the process of getting into school, applying for grants and scholarships, etc. Help someone starting out in a field network with other professionals.

3. Make amends to children that you hurt

a. Turn yourself in if you were an abuser
I have already suggested this:
“If any of you who were direct perpetrators really believe that you are blameless, and that you were “forced into sex with children”, then put your money where your mouth is. How much do you really believe that? Would you stake your life on it? Turn yourself in and use that as your defence. If you are right, then you would be giving evidence against a conspiracy to sexually exploit children that you were unwittingly a part of. The outcome of such a case would have worldwide implications for the Family.”

b. Write a detailed confession to the person you hurt and sign your name
“If you really believe that the choice should be with the victim, then write them a letter, confessing what you did, where and when, (apologizing if you want) and sign your name to it. That would definitely give them the option of pressing charges with as minimal disruption as possible to their own lives. How much do you really want to make amends, even at cost to yourself?”

c. Apologise publicly if appropriate
A public apology, when warranted, can go a long way towards healing as evidenced by James Penn and Ed’s articles on MovingOn.

4. Offer support to any of the various projects
As anyone involved in running any of the web sites and/or other projects knows, the major obstacle to getting something done more quickly is lack of resources. It’s almost impossible not to burn out eventually since there seems to be so much to do, usually in addition to managing our own (often hectic) lives and families.

a. Professional support
Again, people with professional or technical skills or expertise in a particular area can provide invaluable support. You are not only qualified professionals but understand the issues involved in assisting our demographic in an intimate way. If direct support to an individual is not something that is feasible, consider indirect support to one of the various projects, and not just ours. SPF projects will be listed soon on our SPF web site, and I am sure that WC probably has just as many irons in the fire.

b. Financial support
Some projects are more expensive than others, but many of us largely pay for projects out of pocket. If you would like to see something happen, but cannot do it yourself, consider providing financial assistance towards a particular project.

5. Scan Family publications and documents and send them to any of the sites

One of the primary reasons for many of the younger second generation, now teenagers and young adults, remaining in the Family, is that they simply don’t know about their own “heritage”. The Family has burned, blacked out and destroyed the thousands of pages of documentation detailing their shameful past. They have the nerve to call us liars and exaggerators, when if anything, only a small amount of the abuse and harm done is even known.
Providing both the public and the young people who may not know about this material access to read for themselves what “kind, loving Grandpa” really did and what the “innocent missionary group” really believes is an essential part of letting people decide for themselves, with ALL the facts at their disposal.
While many of us have hard copies of these documents, scanning them is very time consuming and can also be quite emotionally difficult when there is so much going on already. If you have copies of these documents and access to a scanner and OCR software, consider taking some time to scan these in.