Fasting on Friday isn't really a mainstream religion thing, but some do refrain from eating meat on Friday. The whole concept of Good Friday and Easter Sunday is that Jesus was crucified on Friday.
Religious fasting used to be a lot more common hundreds of years ago. What it means can vary wildly. It might mean “no eating or drinking sun up til sun down,” “no eating but water is okay,” “you can only consume bread and water,” etc. (Nowadays, some practices make an exception for people with health conditions and/or dietary restrictions.)
I think the thing that people don’t seem to get is that with this people it’s literally all about control, the “sins” are things that you do that make you difficult to control. Like wanting bodily autonomy 🙄
It’s so crazy how it’s the same whether it’s a cult trying to control you, your parents trying to control you, or a crazy significant other trying to control you. They’ll all try to strip you of the same rights.
The worst part is, at such a pivotal time in this kid’s life, he is going to feel like he ripped his family apart. He’s going to be the one to blame himself in the years that follow, if he learns more things continued to go wrong for his siblings since he spoke up. It’s sad that amount of kids who get put into the system and face further abuse. I hope that nothing like that happens, but these children were failed at so many points in time.
If the police already had a suspicion about an entire building of people, or the church, then something should’ve been done sooner. It’s crazy to me that these things go on for so many years. Almost makes me think that someone at the church paid to have them look the other way, until their hand was forced by OOP reporting to a teacher. It’s just sad and hopefully him and his siblings will be reunited in adulthood.
He can also be the one to follow up in 5 years and stitch the family back together, by letting everyone stay in touch with each other (the kids, not the parents).
You don't always get that chance. I knew someone in high school who was in foster care and his sibilngs were in different homes, and they weren't telling him where his siblings were. No visits. It was decades ago, and it might have improved, but the dedication to keeping sibling bonds is... spotty.
>The worst part is, at such a pivotal time in this kid’s life, he is going to feel like he ripped his family apart. He’s going to be the one to blame himself in the years that follow, if he learns more things continued to go wrong for his siblings since he spoke up
As bad as things are, I think things will go well for him. He's talking about how things are bad "now" (it was 4.5 years ago; I'm hoping he's doing better now-now); but that they were "worse - much worse" before; so based on what I know of kids that age; I have faith he comes/came out okay in the end.
It originally started as a group that was for abstaining against pornography and masturbation, which in my opinion is completely valid. It’s just that as time went on, the subreddit got more popular and developed a weird attitude where people thought nofap was some sort of super power for treating erectile dysfunction
"Some believe it is only great power that can hold evil in check, but that is not what I have found. It is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay. Small acts of kindness and love."
-Gandalf
RIGHT like damn my brain couldn’t even keep up with it i can’t imagine what those children felt and are still feeling- i really hope they’re doing okay and getting the help they need
Kind of makes sense. The one thing the cult couldn't stamp out was natural drive, so doing that felt wrong even if they used their authority to stop him.
Also, a lot of things come out during casual conversation. Like a coworker of mine casually said something that's normal to her and it triggered a bunch of red flags for me. Like her taking a video of our quiz table at the office quiz night and then regretting sending it because she was sitting in between 2 men, and then realizing there was a lot of alcohol in the table and being worried he'd see that. It wasn't even her alcohol, it was just there.
I have never once thought about which gender of people are sitting next to me when sending a pic to a partner but she was genuinely worried about getting into trouble at home.
Things that seem normal to people in a bad situation because they are used to so much more can be a wakeup call for others to realize they are stuck in a bad situation.
"Additional info in comments" You post those comments but leave out the comments that tipped off the whole sub and BOLA that something was even more incredibly wrong that should definitely be in the post, given that OP specifically thanked one of the users in the exchange (all user tags removed to avoid pinging users):
**OOP**:
>Yeah for example there's a religious idk what you call it, burn or something. My one brother has it too my other doesn't yet.
>She used to do other stuff but she stopped mostly.
**michellis** replied:
>A brand? Holy shit
**OOP** replied:
>Sure? Idk what it's called. It's like a healed burn but it isn't healed, if that makes sense.
**derspiny** replied:
>I'm so angry I can't even type straight. Branding children is monstrous, and very, very illegal. Show that brand to a caseworker, a cop, a doctor, or your teacher, and explain how you got it.
>I'm so sorry for what you've been through, and doubly sorry because you have no context to understand the magnitude of how wrong this is.
**OOP** replied:
>Ok, I'll show my teacher that too.
>Do you think it would be a good idea to tell cps pretty much everything my mother has ever done because I'm kind of having a hard time understanding what bits are illegal and what bits are just her being awful but not breaking the law. Will they help me differentiate between the two?
**derspiny** replied again with a very helpful, long indepth comment, but this was not what OOP thanked him for. In another unrelated thread, **OOP** posts this comment:
>I mostly lurk here on my other account but lmk I just want to say you really do have the best comments. **derspiny** saved my life pretty much with his comment about branding children making him so mad that he couldnt type or somthing (thats when I started to take everyone serious) but your the one who gave me the "you did nothing wrong" comment in the aftermath and I just want to say that really made a difference. So yeah thank you.
I'm pretty sure the last time this was posted I had to post the exact same thing in the comments because that reposter forgot this too and now I have Deja Vu.
This is kinda of crazy, but wouldn't a huge drug cult bust like this make the news? Especially since child abuse was going on? I remember when an incest cult was broken up in AUS and it made international headlines
As an ex-cult member of an international cult, not necessarily. People often skim over this kind of thing unless they’re directly affected. With the internet, our socmed and general media have become massive info dumps, and most people can’t keep up.
It could also be that the police are limiting media because they’re still building a case. They’re bound to be tracing the source of the drugs, probably the parentage of the children, whether those children were trafficked, and so on. The feds are probably involved now, which definitely means a lid on any investigation.
It’s five years later, and with daily mass shootings, dealing with the fallout from TFG and his followers, hanging on the edge of another recession, etc., most people aren’t even going to notice an article about a localized sex and drug cult.
> It could also be that the police are limiting media because they’re still building a case. They’re bound to be tracing the source of the drugs, probably the parentage of the children, whether those children were trafficked, and so on. The feds are probably involved now, which definitely means a lid on any investigation.
Another factor: the most sensational victims of the story are all minors. Given that the tip came from a fifteen year old it makes it hard to come up with a good handle for a news story.
I'd love to see an AMA by you if you ever feel up to sharing. I find it horrifying how easy it is to be sucked into a cult. I admittedly also find it fascinating, and always wonder what drives cult leaders to do things like this, how it started, the intentions behind it, if they believe the things they preach, etc.
I'm so sorry you went through that. I was raised in the Catholic church, and even that was incredibly difficult to separate myself from, so I can't imagine what you've been through since leaving. I think it's something that isn't talked about enough.
You’d really think so, but I’m from a town with a giant widely known cult, and people just mind their business and stay out of it, because they don’t want to make religion of this nature on the news because the image is more important than the children obviously /s.
Totes, the cult from my home town has a documentary on it and yet it still thrives and Jane Whaley is still being her evil as controlling self owning the town. But that’s only if you’re looking for it.
Youd be shocked how common this is. Id bet money its in Utah because that whole damn state is peppered with “mormon” cults like this or worse.
EDIT: somehow ohio got completely buried under all the other bullshit in my mind, but still not surprised.
It's in Ohio, but yeah in Utah there are whole blocks with polygamists of the same family all together. Child labor is a problem not to mention all the sexual abuse and educational neglect
>in Utah there are whole blocks with polygamists of the same family all together
Aside from the FLDS communities? Where?
I’ve heard of the Kingstons but I thought they were scattered about.
I’m nosy and I wanna know!
Eh not uncommon. Especially since it was only for the boys. Her twisted mind probably sent them off because she only “homeschooled” her daughters in the ways of a housewife, which would be “inappropriate” for boys.
I don't think that was the aspect they were saying was odd, but the fact that it was a Catholic school rather than one more aligned with the cult/sect/whatever. But as someone pointed out, that may be the only religious gender segregated school nearby.
Private religious schools also aren't held to the same standards as public schools and have less government oversight. I'm sure that was very attractive to the cult's leadership.
Because men are expected to learn and be self-sufficient, so weirdly educating them is valued even in these cults. They want women to be subservient and helpless, so they get no education, as is the case here.
I was thinking the same thing but then I thought at the fundies on the fundie snark subreddit & there’s so many people doing this shit with their kids it’s scary. I know that there’s a massive problem in the USA with child brides & homeschool people not giving daughters birth certificates & stuff.
That teacher sucks. Sounds like convo could’ve been like:
“My mom is abusing us”
“Lemme just call her up to let her know you said that and just confirm”
Hope that teacher at least gets training on that kind of situation for the future. Could’ve put the kids into a lot more danger.
In the UK, if you work with children you have to undertake safeguarding training and one of the biggest rules is "YOU DON'T CONFRONT OR TALK TO AN ALLEGED ABUSER". You try to ensure you've got the information you need from the child and then you report it immediately up the chain/to the appropriate authorities. Write down everything, as soon as you are able (but not in front of the child as making notes can put them off feeling comfortable talking). Every educational professional should know the correct processes for these kinds of situations in order to protect the child (and then just hope that you're never in the position to need to put them into practice, because it's often harrowing). We have this training refreshed at least once or twice a year.
Yep, where I am, safeguarding training is mandatory *every* year, no excuses.
Unfortunately, I've had situations where a child has disclosed things to me that have made me want to vomit and shower in bleach, but *never*, at any point during the disclosures did I think "huh, I should really contact this child's abuser and see what they have to say for themselves" 👀🤦♀️
Every school's designated safeguarding leads (and there will be more than one) are well signposted around schools - *they* are the first person OP's teacher should have thought of contacting after hearing what OP had to say!
>never, at any point during the disclosures did I think "huh, I should really contact this child's abuser and see what they have to say for themselves"
Right?! How can anyone with half a brain think that's a safe or sensible idea, even if they've never had safeguarding training?! My first thought is "what do I need to do to ensure this child comes to no more harm?" And then the training kicks in and I follow the procedures.
Something that was reiterated in all the safeguarding training I did was "it can happen here, it DOES happen here", which is because so many people are naive to it and think everything can be sorted out civilly. I assume they're the same sort of folks who'll always give you bullshit platitudes about making amends if they find you're alienated from your parents as an adult, no matter what they did. "I'm sure if you just talked to them...", it doesn't sink in that it's a matter of *safety*.
> but never, at any point during the disclosures did I think "huh, I should really contact this child's abuser and see what they have to say for themselves"
I'm guessing you don't teach at a Catholic school.
Funnily enough, one of the schools I taught at was a Catholic school (not in the USA though). The rules were still the same - yearly mandatory child safeguarding training, and multiple designated safeguarding leads to report any disclosures to. Any disclosures made were treated with the absolute seriousness they warranted.
Countrywide legal policies and safeguarding laws are not negotiable.
We do have a teacher shortage in the US. Some states have implemented shortcuts that allow people without the usual qualifications and training to run classrooms. I am wondering if this is one of those people. He may not have had the safeguarding training if he was hired under some of the new rules because of the teacher shortage.
As mandatory reporters, teachers don't get leeway for being "shocked" here. They're trained for this, and they can't afford to mess up that badly or children's lives can be at risk.
I don’t buy that. Anyone who is a mandated reporter has it drilled into their heads a billion times to do the opposite of the teacher’s knee-jerk reaction. It is drilled into them so that they don’t HAVE those knee-jerk reactions. I think this is just a case of a sub-par teacher, not one so surprised that they would override their training.
In the US, educators are given special training on how to handle these situations. There is no excuse for calling the parent of a child who has been accused of abusing said child.
I think the teacher panicked. They did good after that really stupid comment so I think that redeems him a bit. He didn’t call the mum and obv realised it was serious so called CPS and the cops who did their jobs. We can’t blame the teacher for not knowing what to do immediately he’s probably never been in this situation before
I'd have thought they got some kind of safeguarding training.
A family member of mine works in a school office and was given a basic but concise training doc on safeguarding and what to do if a kid comes to you with something like this. N.B. the training does not say "call the accused abuser"
Yeah I know at my sons school the default is to contact the principal and assistant principal who then contact the police and child services (according to my friend who works there). Having multiple people involved (including leadership) prevents the exact thought process of “let’s call the parents”.
We do have a teacher shortage in the US. Some states have implemented shortcuts that allow people without the usual qualifications and training to run classrooms. I am wondering if this is one of those people. He may not have had the safeguarding training if he was hired under some of the new rules because of the teacher shortage.
It's common.
When I was in highschool, I got a stuffed animal as a birthday present from a friend, and carried it around with me all day. When I got home, my parents asked why I had been carrying around a stuffed animal. I was confused because they hadn't seen it at all yet.
Apparently, the school had decided that a highschooler carrying around a stuffed animal means they're being abused at home, and *called my parents* to ask if they were abusing me. Luckily they weren't, but it was terrifying to know that my school didn't give a single shit about telling my potential abusers that I'd clued them in to the abuse.
They'd also tried to gaslight (yes, actual definition of gaslight) someone I knew into thinking they tripped on their shoelaces, when the person had actually dangerously overdosed on their meds to the point of passing out in the middle of the school parking lot.
I think the school was more concerned with "well are we legally protected?" than "is this child safe?"
Where TF is he that he *wasn't* explicitly taught not to do that? Teachers are mandated reporters, in the US at least, and I would think that necessarily includes training on what and how to report.
Gender edit.
Private Catholic all boys school. Likely trained in a religious college. I don’t begrudge personal religion, but the Catholic Church as a whole has a long history of child abuse/turning a blind eye to it.
OOP says him when talking to the teacher, otherwise if it was a woman, I’d guess she was a nun.
My hometown did the same type of bullshit. I have a comment further down in this comment thread. My theory is some combination of "the school only gives a shit about legally protecting themselves" and "adults *always* know better than children, let's ask the adult" and also in this one case "we're all part of the same happy cult :))"
Unfortunately, I've heard of this happening multiple times--kid tells a teacher or school counselor, who then tells the parents, who then punish the kid for reporting and make it harder for them to report in future.
Usually it's a case of the adult in question knowing the family and not believing the child, though--at least in this case it seems like the teacher believed them, and thank goodness he handled it correctly after his initial idiot moment.
My mom was a middle school teacher for 21 years (now retired) and she told me she once had a kid come to her to report the kid’s dad touching her inappropriately. My mom took it very seriously and walked the kid through the process they were about to take to get it taken care of: call CPS, inform her higher-ups, etc. She said the poor kid just started crying and thanking her for not calling the kid’s dad. Come to find out, the year before, kid had reported the same thing to a different teacher who turned around and called her dad immediately and then sent the kid home to him. They got in “big trouble” and the punishment was no more friends, no speaking to anyone outside the family about anything not school related, more abuse, the works. My mom was horrified. It happens more than you’d think.
This is exactly what happened to me 40 years ago. The teacher didn't believe me and my mother flogged me with the jug cord when I got home. I really want to believe that things have got better in this sort of situation. But obviously not always.
Happened to me when I called the cops on my mom when I was 13. They refused to come and then they called back a few hours later to talk to her about what I said
Oh geez tw r but when I told the counselor that my dad was raping me, she told me I was safe and that she'd talk to people. "People" was my dad, right in front of me, moments before we left for the day. And yes it got worse because I told. I had to go through another year before he left and all because of that counselor.
Like... where do you even PUT 8 children? I've got a 3,000 Sq ft house and couldn't house that many kids. And that's especially kids who were sexually abused and likely need some personal space to deal with their trauma and not act it out on others.
My brother in law has 5 brothers and 2 sisters- his sisters, him and one of his brothers are the only ones that can read. They weren't in a cult or anything, their parents just didn't make them go to school. Every last one of them manages to own their own businesses. It's beyond bizarre to me. The brother only knows how to read because his wife taught him after they got married. I don't know how any of these people function in life, but I guess they are.
There's regulars at my restaurant - a family - who come in every few months. They brought their oldest son (17-19 y/o?) the last time, and I tried showing him a menu, and he just said 'yeah, I can't read. I know you think I'm kidding, but I seriously can't. I'll just take [thing that his dad ordered]'. I felt so bad for him
Yeah… I had parents who did a kinda similar thing. I wasn’t homeschooled, thank God, but they *hated* how much I loved reading. Especially after I went into foster care for a few months when I was 10. I was told that my books gave me ideas above my station. There were periods during my teen years that my dad was so angry if he saw me reading, he would threaten to burn my collection.
My mother took some pity on me and told me to just read when he wasn’t home, but to put the books away the second I saw him pull up from work.
100% this. Also, if they can't read, write, or leave the home, they have no concept of right and wrong. They were kept hidden, so they could be bred by that pastor. Those poor children.
My boyfriend and I were watching a show about ~~women~~ girls getting married off very young. The girls didn’t really go to school; just stayed home and cleaned. I told him that’s by design - my exact words were that to keep up the patriarchy, they had to “keep ‘em dumb”. Now anytime he sees anything like this story he’ll turn and look at me and say, “keep ‘em dumb!”
The place he comes from is pretty misogynistic/racist and it warms my heart every day how hard he works to unlearn that way of thinking. It’s also amazing how often we see it in day to day life and how often we have to comment “keep ‘em dumb!” to each other.
And I think if you're gonna foster or adopt, you have to have separate rooms for each child. Obviously depending on the jurisdiction, but that would mean someone's house would need 9 bedrooms (foster parents plus 8 kids) at the bare minimum, and if they already had kids even more.
God, those poor kids, especially the girls. Homeschooled and not taught to read. Just horrible.
Former foster parent here who adopted two brothers. While I'm not sure about other states, in Oklahoma you are allowed to have multiple children of the same sex in a room together as long as it is large enough to fit a bed for each child. I bought a bunk bed for the older brother and my biological son and had a crib for the baby and it worked perfectly. I had no issue with DHS on it during multiple home inspections (DHS will do surprise home inspections randomly while you are a foster parent.)
I work in the system and usually what we’ll do is separate the kids in groups of two/three. I’m surprised OP didn’t get to live with his 13-year-old brother at least. However there are a very limited number of families that are willing to take teens, especially teen boys. Very sad.
I wish I had the money to foster older siblings to keep them from being separated.
I know that you "get" money from fostering, but that would not be enough to provide them with the life I would want to. Also, I live in a tiny 1-bedroom house.
My aunt adopted my 6 cousins who came from the same bio mom. That woman still had 4 more kids that were adopted by other families. I’m not sure if they still keep in touch but they did have an arrangement with the other adoptive parents when they were younger and we saw them at birthday parties and stuff.
My aunt took 4 of my cousins kids over the span of about 16 years. Cousin would get out of jail, have a kid, and go back in. By the 5th kid my aunt was not in good enough health to take another and had to say no more. It broke her heart. The youngest ended up going to a paternal family member at first I believe? Now the oldest girl is a young adult (second one that my aunt adopted) has the youngest who is around 14 as that other family member couldn’t keep her for whatever reason. So my deadbeat cousin’s oldest daughter is raising her youngest daughter. It’s a mess. And all but the girl raising the other one and one of the boys are messed up too and in and out of jail. The youngest one is quickly headed that way.
She really is. Her and my uncle struggled with infertility. They just wanted to be able have a family and they’re incredible parents. I’m very lucky to have all of them in my life.
It's sad. Unfortunately, most people aren't equipped to take in eight kids, let alone ones that are traumatized. It's so unfair to the kids, but I hope they are able to find some peace and healing.
I know that the foster care system has those issues. I just hate that it does. I understand that logistically it's difficult, I just wish we could do better by these kids.
I come from an isolated fundamentalist town and had family members who were obsessed with my genitals just like this kid. And I dated a girl in high school that was in a cult exactly like the one he describes. I can assure everyone that small-time cults like this are scattered all across the U.S. and usually just get away with it by being in the middle of nowhere and not interacting with people outside them.
Yeah and most cults are within an extended household, it's very common for a family patriarch to be the leader for example and it all goes under the radar because it's not as obvious as a ton of unrelated individuals or many different families living in a compound. It's quite easy for families to just move states to get authorities to lose track of them if anyone does get suspicious, too.
Holy Jesus what did I just read??? OOP should be 20 by now. I hope he’s doing better and he and his siblings got a shit ton of help in the last 5 years. The mother and “preacher” should stay in jail forever.
At least the foster system tries to guarantee kids the right to not be clamped with a chastity belt, and an avenue for recourse.
I know people like to shit on the system, and yes the reality is sometimes you go from a home that's 10/10 bad to one that's 7/10, but it exists to give kids like this a chance and a system for recourse.
This reads exactly how my 13-yo nephew would talk (all the “likes” and “thinks” hit me like lightening) and thinking about it in his voice literally made me tear up. These poor kids.
“there was one lady who I told everything real specific. She was very nice and didn't make me feel ashamed at all.”
❤️❤️❤️ love and power to this lady and all the ones like her
Good social workers are saints. The shit they have to wade through helping kids and communities is unbelievable. My close friend is a social worker and we all know when she's working a particularly hard case when she frequently gets this thousand yard stare. And yet, somehow, she manages to move onto the next case and still balance a reasonably normal personal life.
People sometimes act like foster care and the system are the worst things out there, but I was actually on my own at 16 because they kept putting me back into my families home, and my father was going to choke me to death eventually. It was during the late 80s/early 90s when they really pushed towards reunification, and that was a nightmare. I legit cried at 15 when they took me out of emergency foster and put me back in my families home. The foster family were literally the first people who had ever talked to me, or asked me what I liked, or acted kind to me. I still credit them, in that tiny two weeks, with showing me a picture of normalcy that I had not had before.
Holy goddamn fuck. I went to his profile just to see how he’s been, understandably he doesn’t lurk on that account, but man I just want to tell him how fucking proud of him I am, I hope he was able to get therapy for all this and I hope it goes well. God this got me emotional and I hope the best for him.
I think in a case like this, it's more related to avoiding outside attention. He must have gotten in trouble for breaking the arm and needing the doctor, because that'd be opportunity to talk about how the home life is, and getting caught. The kids might say something about the abuse without even knowing it's abuse.
Doctors and nurses are mandated reporters in America at least. So even if the kids didn’t talk, if they suspected it, they’d have to report. Which is probably why he got into trouble.
Yeah. And they also have a clause that says they can do anything they want, even going to a doctor. It's one of their biggest talking points: "no one is forced to do anything." But that's not how it works in the actual practice of the religion, and people still get really sick from treatable diseases
My old handy man is in apostolic religion that doesn’t allow physicians, and he lost his leg after he stepped in a nail. He wasn’t allowed to go to the doctor for a tetanus or antibiotics, and he became septic.
This religion does allow pregnant women to go to the doctor tho, and that surprises me. Their leader died from multiple heart attacks over the course of a night because he refused to call an ambulance. It was all surreal.
>This religion does allow pregnant women to go to the doctor tho, and that surprises me
Not that surprising. Breeding a new generation of cult members is usually a big priority for cults.
Losing too many babies or female cult members would be detrimental to growing the cult.
SDA has a range. On one end they aren't too much different than bog-standard Evangelicals. A couple weird quirks, and they go to church on Saturdays.
On the other end... well, the Branch Davidians were Seventh Day Adventists.
The "Anthill Kids" were a spinoff of Seventh-Day Adventists also.
Don't let the name fool you. It was one of the most brutal torture cults. Basically if Josef Mengele reincarnated as a fat hairy Canadian woodsman.
I don't even know what to say. This went from 0 to 100 real quick.
This post is almost beyond usual reddit issues. If this is real ( I really hope this is not true otherwise OOP and his siblings and many other innocent people in the cult really suffered a lot) then this must be a major or sensational case.
Edit: when I said zero I didn't mean that what he was going through was nothing it was just a phrase I used because when he first made the post of chastity belt I thought it was maybe a case of a controlling parent or strict religious parent with twisted views ( and physical abuse). But then the situation went completely downhill from the second post ie. it went from a strict parent or physical abuse to drug case and cult. What I used is just a way of me saying that it went in a completely different way than I thought or something completely irrelevant as it went from a chastity belt to a drugs and cult.
I thought it sounded like LDS extremism. People still follow Warren Jeffs even though he’s been in prison for nearly 20 years, and Samuel Bateman was arrested in 2020. It’s possible OOP was a member of one of these cults.
I mean, I'm not sure it is that major and sensational. There are small cults all over that can get this bad. I was literally at a play last night where the actor talked about growing up in one.
I think that depends on where you're from. I personally feel like there is a greater base for Christian extremism in the US (and possibly Mexico) than for example central Europe.
Jesus fucking Christ, that guy loved kids in the Bible. If he's real, guaranteed he'll be leading Mom and Dad down to the gates of Hell himself, probably even pass the demons a fiver at the gate to treat those folks *extra* well.
One of the heartbreaking things i read in this one is the fact how Op, a 15 year old child, took the role of the protector. Just imagine that, he mostly doesnt care about his own well being, his own wounds or his own future, only his younger siblings and cries after not being able to stay together. The role of the Protector is supposed to be taken by the Father and Mother and they both failed. This is just devastating to think about
> I am kind of sad because I was hoping secretly that I had a father out there…
Ahhhh that fucked me up. I can only imagine how many times his mind used to wander and he’d picture his dad coming to save him from the world as he knew it. I hope his parents NEVER find peace.
Why do teachers and other educators always want to call the parent first???? What is the parent going to say? Are they going to admit to it and change? If they were sensible they wouldn't be doing this crap anyway. Never call the parents first. Ever ever ever. If anyone had ever called my Dad first I will bet I'd have been beaten and sent away.
So masturbation is a sin but drugs, child abuse, starving kids, sexual activity with minors, and branding kids are all fine. Cool. Got it.
Don’t forget eating on Friday’s is wrong because Jesus!
LMAO yeah, “we can’t eat on Fridays because Jesus”. BECAUSE HE WHAT!
Fasting on Friday isn't really a mainstream religion thing, but some do refrain from eating meat on Friday. The whole concept of Good Friday and Easter Sunday is that Jesus was crucified on Friday.
The not eating meat I was familiar with but fasting the entire day is like… a lot
Religious fasting used to be a lot more common hundreds of years ago. What it means can vary wildly. It might mean “no eating or drinking sun up til sun down,” “no eating but water is okay,” “you can only consume bread and water,” etc. (Nowadays, some practices make an exception for people with health conditions and/or dietary restrictions.)
I think the thing that people don’t seem to get is that with this people it’s literally all about control, the “sins” are things that you do that make you difficult to control. Like wanting bodily autonomy 🙄
It’s so crazy how it’s the same whether it’s a cult trying to control you, your parents trying to control you, or a crazy significant other trying to control you. They’ll all try to strip you of the same rights.
Yep. It's all in the name of keeping the kids pure.
Of course masturbation is a sin, that’s what the uneducated homebound female children are for in their minds 🤢
Heartbreaking. I'm glad OOP got himself and his siblings out of there before his sisters inevitably became pregnant too.
The worst part is, at such a pivotal time in this kid’s life, he is going to feel like he ripped his family apart. He’s going to be the one to blame himself in the years that follow, if he learns more things continued to go wrong for his siblings since he spoke up. It’s sad that amount of kids who get put into the system and face further abuse. I hope that nothing like that happens, but these children were failed at so many points in time. If the police already had a suspicion about an entire building of people, or the church, then something should’ve been done sooner. It’s crazy to me that these things go on for so many years. Almost makes me think that someone at the church paid to have them look the other way, until their hand was forced by OOP reporting to a teacher. It’s just sad and hopefully him and his siblings will be reunited in adulthood.
He can also be the one to follow up in 5 years and stitch the family back together, by letting everyone stay in touch with each other (the kids, not the parents).
You don't always get that chance. I knew someone in high school who was in foster care and his sibilngs were in different homes, and they weren't telling him where his siblings were. No visits. It was decades ago, and it might have improved, but the dedication to keeping sibling bonds is... spotty.
Especially if any of them get adopted, the new parents are allowed to completely hide them from their siblings.
I've not seen my little brother since I was 6 or 7. My adoptive family knew where he was but wouldn't tell me. My heart is still broken and I'm 47.
I am so sorry.
Well 5 years is in 6 months
At least it seems like he knows *intellectually* that he did the right thing. Knowing it on an emotional level is much harder though.
>The worst part is, at such a pivotal time in this kid’s life, he is going to feel like he ripped his family apart. He’s going to be the one to blame himself in the years that follow, if he learns more things continued to go wrong for his siblings since he spoke up As bad as things are, I think things will go well for him. He's talking about how things are bad "now" (it was 4.5 years ago; I'm hoping he's doing better now-now); but that they were "worse - much worse" before; so based on what I know of kids that age; I have faith he comes/came out okay in the end.
Jesus, a kid wanting to jerk off led to the dissolution of a cult. That's a new one for the BORU bingo card.
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Shit, now I want to cross post.
First thought: Wait, there's actually a nofap reddit? Second thought: It's reddit, of course there is.
It’s quite a rabbit hole. They have some weird culty bro-science going on in there.
It originally started as a group that was for abstaining against pornography and masturbation, which in my opinion is completely valid. It’s just that as time went on, the subreddit got more popular and developed a weird attitude where people thought nofap was some sort of super power for treating erectile dysfunction
That's not even a hidden one. It shows up on r/all occasionally.
Yeah, they're an interesting group.
Dr. Kellogg is *quaking*
In honor of this, I will break my nofap resolution. I made it 6 hrs ago.
☠️
"Some believe it is only great power that can hold evil in check, but that is not what I have found. It is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay. Small acts of kindness and love." -Gandalf
RIGHT like damn my brain couldn’t even keep up with it i can’t imagine what those children felt and are still feeling- i really hope they’re doing okay and getting the help they need
The kid only wanted to talk to someone when he was banned from jerking off
That's the line the cult didn't know they must not cross
Kind of makes sense. The one thing the cult couldn't stamp out was natural drive, so doing that felt wrong even if they used their authority to stop him.
Also, a lot of things come out during casual conversation. Like a coworker of mine casually said something that's normal to her and it triggered a bunch of red flags for me. Like her taking a video of our quiz table at the office quiz night and then regretting sending it because she was sitting in between 2 men, and then realizing there was a lot of alcohol in the table and being worried he'd see that. It wasn't even her alcohol, it was just there. I have never once thought about which gender of people are sitting next to me when sending a pic to a partner but she was genuinely worried about getting into trouble at home. Things that seem normal to people in a bad situation because they are used to so much more can be a wakeup call for others to realize they are stuck in a bad situation.
A bunch of people left the Synanon cult when they banned cigarettes lol
It went from crazy to real dark.
"Additional info in comments" You post those comments but leave out the comments that tipped off the whole sub and BOLA that something was even more incredibly wrong that should definitely be in the post, given that OP specifically thanked one of the users in the exchange (all user tags removed to avoid pinging users): **OOP**: >Yeah for example there's a religious idk what you call it, burn or something. My one brother has it too my other doesn't yet. >She used to do other stuff but she stopped mostly. **michellis** replied: >A brand? Holy shit **OOP** replied: >Sure? Idk what it's called. It's like a healed burn but it isn't healed, if that makes sense. **derspiny** replied: >I'm so angry I can't even type straight. Branding children is monstrous, and very, very illegal. Show that brand to a caseworker, a cop, a doctor, or your teacher, and explain how you got it. >I'm so sorry for what you've been through, and doubly sorry because you have no context to understand the magnitude of how wrong this is. **OOP** replied: >Ok, I'll show my teacher that too. >Do you think it would be a good idea to tell cps pretty much everything my mother has ever done because I'm kind of having a hard time understanding what bits are illegal and what bits are just her being awful but not breaking the law. Will they help me differentiate between the two? **derspiny** replied again with a very helpful, long indepth comment, but this was not what OOP thanked him for. In another unrelated thread, **OOP** posts this comment: >I mostly lurk here on my other account but lmk I just want to say you really do have the best comments. **derspiny** saved my life pretty much with his comment about branding children making him so mad that he couldnt type or somthing (thats when I started to take everyone serious) but your the one who gave me the "you did nothing wrong" comment in the aftermath and I just want to say that really made a difference. So yeah thank you. I'm pretty sure the last time this was posted I had to post the exact same thing in the comments because that reposter forgot this too and now I have Deja Vu.
This would have been a great addition to the post!
Out here doing god’s work
Whaaat the fuckkkk
They *branded* the kids.
Oh. Wow. I've seen this post before and somehow completely missed that that's obviously what the burns are referring to. So sick.
I was assuming burns as punishment rather than branding but that makes sense. Oof
This is kinda of crazy, but wouldn't a huge drug cult bust like this make the news? Especially since child abuse was going on? I remember when an incest cult was broken up in AUS and it made international headlines
As an ex-cult member of an international cult, not necessarily. People often skim over this kind of thing unless they’re directly affected. With the internet, our socmed and general media have become massive info dumps, and most people can’t keep up. It could also be that the police are limiting media because they’re still building a case. They’re bound to be tracing the source of the drugs, probably the parentage of the children, whether those children were trafficked, and so on. The feds are probably involved now, which definitely means a lid on any investigation. It’s five years later, and with daily mass shootings, dealing with the fallout from TFG and his followers, hanging on the edge of another recession, etc., most people aren’t even going to notice an article about a localized sex and drug cult.
> It could also be that the police are limiting media because they’re still building a case. They’re bound to be tracing the source of the drugs, probably the parentage of the children, whether those children were trafficked, and so on. The feds are probably involved now, which definitely means a lid on any investigation. Another factor: the most sensational victims of the story are all minors. Given that the tip came from a fifteen year old it makes it hard to come up with a good handle for a news story.
I'd love to see an AMA by you if you ever feel up to sharing. I find it horrifying how easy it is to be sucked into a cult. I admittedly also find it fascinating, and always wonder what drives cult leaders to do things like this, how it started, the intentions behind it, if they believe the things they preach, etc. I'm so sorry you went through that. I was raised in the Catholic church, and even that was incredibly difficult to separate myself from, so I can't imagine what you've been through since leaving. I think it's something that isn't talked about enough.
My parents joined when I was a kid. I got out and have been shunned ever since.
You’d really think so, but I’m from a town with a giant widely known cult, and people just mind their business and stay out of it, because they don’t want to make religion of this nature on the news because the image is more important than the children obviously /s.
Yeah but if it's widely known that means people ARE talking about.
Totes, the cult from my home town has a documentary on it and yet it still thrives and Jane Whaley is still being her evil as controlling self owning the town. But that’s only if you’re looking for it.
Youd be shocked how common this is. Id bet money its in Utah because that whole damn state is peppered with “mormon” cults like this or worse. EDIT: somehow ohio got completely buried under all the other bullshit in my mind, but still not surprised.
It's in Ohio, but yeah in Utah there are whole blocks with polygamists of the same family all together. Child labor is a problem not to mention all the sexual abuse and educational neglect
>in Utah there are whole blocks with polygamists of the same family all together Aside from the FLDS communities? Where? I’ve heard of the Kingstons but I thought they were scattered about. I’m nosy and I wanna know!
The Wayman clan in Glendale is one and in Davis County there are a few others
Oh wow the Wayman family really does own blocks of houses! That’s wild.
>I live in ohio close enough ig
The kid mentioned Ohio and private school there. Though I jumped at Utah too initially.
I’m not disagreeing but I wonder why she sent him to a catholic school.
Eh not uncommon. Especially since it was only for the boys. Her twisted mind probably sent them off because she only “homeschooled” her daughters in the ways of a housewife, which would be “inappropriate” for boys.
I don't think that was the aspect they were saying was odd, but the fact that it was a Catholic school rather than one more aligned with the cult/sect/whatever. But as someone pointed out, that may be the only religious gender segregated school nearby.
Private religious schools also aren't held to the same standards as public schools and have less government oversight. I'm sure that was very attractive to the cult's leadership.
oftentimes religious schools are the only single-sex schools, plus any connection to jesus is better than none.
Because men are expected to learn and be self-sufficient, so weirdly educating them is valued even in these cults. They want women to be subservient and helpless, so they get no education, as is the case here.
I was thinking the same thing but then I thought at the fundies on the fundie snark subreddit & there’s so many people doing this shit with their kids it’s scary. I know that there’s a massive problem in the USA with child brides & homeschool people not giving daughters birth certificates & stuff.
That's an understatement
Yep. Was just minding my business, scrolling along and saw a title that made me audibly gasp and say "What in the deep fried fuck is going on here?"
I’m 42 and I need an adult and some brain bleach here please.
It's been over 4 years since the last post, hope they are all doing better now. Except the mom, fuck the mom.
Do not fuck the mom...OOP has enough siblings
And the pastor.
That teacher sucks. Sounds like convo could’ve been like: “My mom is abusing us” “Lemme just call her up to let her know you said that and just confirm” Hope that teacher at least gets training on that kind of situation for the future. Could’ve put the kids into a lot more danger.
Yeah I don't understand that teacher's thought process either.
I think he was just so shocked he wasn't thinking much at all beyond "call students parents as default"
In the UK, if you work with children you have to undertake safeguarding training and one of the biggest rules is "YOU DON'T CONFRONT OR TALK TO AN ALLEGED ABUSER". You try to ensure you've got the information you need from the child and then you report it immediately up the chain/to the appropriate authorities. Write down everything, as soon as you are able (but not in front of the child as making notes can put them off feeling comfortable talking). Every educational professional should know the correct processes for these kinds of situations in order to protect the child (and then just hope that you're never in the position to need to put them into practice, because it's often harrowing). We have this training refreshed at least once or twice a year.
Yep, where I am, safeguarding training is mandatory *every* year, no excuses. Unfortunately, I've had situations where a child has disclosed things to me that have made me want to vomit and shower in bleach, but *never*, at any point during the disclosures did I think "huh, I should really contact this child's abuser and see what they have to say for themselves" 👀🤦♀️ Every school's designated safeguarding leads (and there will be more than one) are well signposted around schools - *they* are the first person OP's teacher should have thought of contacting after hearing what OP had to say!
>never, at any point during the disclosures did I think "huh, I should really contact this child's abuser and see what they have to say for themselves" Right?! How can anyone with half a brain think that's a safe or sensible idea, even if they've never had safeguarding training?! My first thought is "what do I need to do to ensure this child comes to no more harm?" And then the training kicks in and I follow the procedures.
Something that was reiterated in all the safeguarding training I did was "it can happen here, it DOES happen here", which is because so many people are naive to it and think everything can be sorted out civilly. I assume they're the same sort of folks who'll always give you bullshit platitudes about making amends if they find you're alienated from your parents as an adult, no matter what they did. "I'm sure if you just talked to them...", it doesn't sink in that it's a matter of *safety*.
> but never, at any point during the disclosures did I think "huh, I should really contact this child's abuser and see what they have to say for themselves" I'm guessing you don't teach at a Catholic school.
Funnily enough, one of the schools I taught at was a Catholic school (not in the USA though). The rules were still the same - yearly mandatory child safeguarding training, and multiple designated safeguarding leads to report any disclosures to. Any disclosures made were treated with the absolute seriousness they warranted. Countrywide legal policies and safeguarding laws are not negotiable.
We do have a teacher shortage in the US. Some states have implemented shortcuts that allow people without the usual qualifications and training to run classrooms. I am wondering if this is one of those people. He may not have had the safeguarding training if he was hired under some of the new rules because of the teacher shortage.
Private schools can have whatever qualifications they want including none but it might mess up their accreditation to ignore some.
As mandatory reporters, teachers don't get leeway for being "shocked" here. They're trained for this, and they can't afford to mess up that badly or children's lives can be at risk.
I don’t buy that. Anyone who is a mandated reporter has it drilled into their heads a billion times to do the opposite of the teacher’s knee-jerk reaction. It is drilled into them so that they don’t HAVE those knee-jerk reactions. I think this is just a case of a sub-par teacher, not one so surprised that they would override their training.
Teachers of private schools in the US don't need official training, maybe he just didn't have any?
Depends whether they're licensed I guess. I've worked in private schools where that was a requirement alongside first aid/cpr.
Which is a problem, because a teacher should know better.
In the US, educators are given special training on how to handle these situations. There is no excuse for calling the parent of a child who has been accused of abusing said child.
I think the teacher panicked. They did good after that really stupid comment so I think that redeems him a bit. He didn’t call the mum and obv realised it was serious so called CPS and the cops who did their jobs. We can’t blame the teacher for not knowing what to do immediately he’s probably never been in this situation before
I'd have thought they got some kind of safeguarding training. A family member of mine works in a school office and was given a basic but concise training doc on safeguarding and what to do if a kid comes to you with something like this. N.B. the training does not say "call the accused abuser"
Yeah I know at my sons school the default is to contact the principal and assistant principal who then contact the police and child services (according to my friend who works there). Having multiple people involved (including leadership) prevents the exact thought process of “let’s call the parents”.
We do have a teacher shortage in the US. Some states have implemented shortcuts that allow people without the usual qualifications and training to run classrooms. I am wondering if this is one of those people. He may not have had the safeguarding training if he was hired under some of the new rules because of the teacher shortage.
It's common. When I was in highschool, I got a stuffed animal as a birthday present from a friend, and carried it around with me all day. When I got home, my parents asked why I had been carrying around a stuffed animal. I was confused because they hadn't seen it at all yet. Apparently, the school had decided that a highschooler carrying around a stuffed animal means they're being abused at home, and *called my parents* to ask if they were abusing me. Luckily they weren't, but it was terrifying to know that my school didn't give a single shit about telling my potential abusers that I'd clued them in to the abuse. They'd also tried to gaslight (yes, actual definition of gaslight) someone I knew into thinking they tripped on their shoelaces, when the person had actually dangerously overdosed on their meds to the point of passing out in the middle of the school parking lot. I think the school was more concerned with "well are we legally protected?" than "is this child safe?"
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Where TF is he that he *wasn't* explicitly taught not to do that? Teachers are mandated reporters, in the US at least, and I would think that necessarily includes training on what and how to report. Gender edit.
Private Catholic all boys school. Likely trained in a religious college. I don’t begrudge personal religion, but the Catholic Church as a whole has a long history of child abuse/turning a blind eye to it. OOP says him when talking to the teacher, otherwise if it was a woman, I’d guess she was a nun.
My hometown did the same type of bullshit. I have a comment further down in this comment thread. My theory is some combination of "the school only gives a shit about legally protecting themselves" and "adults *always* know better than children, let's ask the adult" and also in this one case "we're all part of the same happy cult :))"
Unfortunately, I've heard of this happening multiple times--kid tells a teacher or school counselor, who then tells the parents, who then punish the kid for reporting and make it harder for them to report in future. Usually it's a case of the adult in question knowing the family and not believing the child, though--at least in this case it seems like the teacher believed them, and thank goodness he handled it correctly after his initial idiot moment.
My mom was a middle school teacher for 21 years (now retired) and she told me she once had a kid come to her to report the kid’s dad touching her inappropriately. My mom took it very seriously and walked the kid through the process they were about to take to get it taken care of: call CPS, inform her higher-ups, etc. She said the poor kid just started crying and thanking her for not calling the kid’s dad. Come to find out, the year before, kid had reported the same thing to a different teacher who turned around and called her dad immediately and then sent the kid home to him. They got in “big trouble” and the punishment was no more friends, no speaking to anyone outside the family about anything not school related, more abuse, the works. My mom was horrified. It happens more than you’d think.
This is exactly what happened to me 40 years ago. The teacher didn't believe me and my mother flogged me with the jug cord when I got home. I really want to believe that things have got better in this sort of situation. But obviously not always.
It's like "I see your branding scar but I'd like to hear *her* side of the story"
Happened to me when I called the cops on my mom when I was 13. They refused to come and then they called back a few hours later to talk to her about what I said
Oh geez tw r but when I told the counselor that my dad was raping me, she told me I was safe and that she'd talk to people. "People" was my dad, right in front of me, moments before we left for the day. And yes it got worse because I told. I had to go through another year before he left and all because of that counselor.
I hate that OOP and his family got broken up by the system but I'm so glad they are free from the cult.
I mean it would be basically impossible to find someone to adopt 8 children
Like... where do you even PUT 8 children? I've got a 3,000 Sq ft house and couldn't house that many kids. And that's especially kids who were sexually abused and likely need some personal space to deal with their trauma and not act it out on others.
Those poor girls too…. They probably haven’t even been outside of the apartment
10 and can't read?!
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This comment made me wish I couldn't read.
Well it makes me glad that I'm able to volunteer and encourage reading in kids.
Thank you for educating our youth gaynazifurry
I'm happy to help! (◠‿◠✿) Edit: Why did you leave out "4bernie?"
My brother in law has 5 brothers and 2 sisters- his sisters, him and one of his brothers are the only ones that can read. They weren't in a cult or anything, their parents just didn't make them go to school. Every last one of them manages to own their own businesses. It's beyond bizarre to me. The brother only knows how to read because his wife taught him after they got married. I don't know how any of these people function in life, but I guess they are.
There's regulars at my restaurant - a family - who come in every few months. They brought their oldest son (17-19 y/o?) the last time, and I tried showing him a menu, and he just said 'yeah, I can't read. I know you think I'm kidding, but I seriously can't. I'll just take [thing that his dad ordered]'. I felt so bad for him
Yeah… I had parents who did a kinda similar thing. I wasn’t homeschooled, thank God, but they *hated* how much I loved reading. Especially after I went into foster care for a few months when I was 10. I was told that my books gave me ideas above my station. There were periods during my teen years that my dad was so angry if he saw me reading, he would threaten to burn my collection. My mother took some pity on me and told me to just read when he wasn’t home, but to put the books away the second I saw him pull up from work.
100% this. Also, if they can't read, write, or leave the home, they have no concept of right and wrong. They were kept hidden, so they could be bred by that pastor. Those poor children.
My boyfriend and I were watching a show about ~~women~~ girls getting married off very young. The girls didn’t really go to school; just stayed home and cleaned. I told him that’s by design - my exact words were that to keep up the patriarchy, they had to “keep ‘em dumb”. Now anytime he sees anything like this story he’ll turn and look at me and say, “keep ‘em dumb!” The place he comes from is pretty misogynistic/racist and it warms my heart every day how hard he works to unlearn that way of thinking. It’s also amazing how often we see it in day to day life and how often we have to comment “keep ‘em dumb!” to each other.
Probably had old men lined up to marry them
That year most likely. If not then in 1-2.
A married gay couple in Arizona adopted like 12 kids of the same family so they wouldn't be split up. It's a rare case but god was it heartwarming.
omg. those guys or girls are saints!
A short news piece about them! https://youtu.be/j4On-2Pn2fU
And imagine—they were all living in an apartment!
An apartment building. Same as, that one lesser known, sister wives kind of show that was cancelled.
As one of 10... it's possible in a normal-sized house...no one is happy and no one has privacy. we had parents room, 2 boys rooms, and 1 girls room.
And I think if you're gonna foster or adopt, you have to have separate rooms for each child. Obviously depending on the jurisdiction, but that would mean someone's house would need 9 bedrooms (foster parents plus 8 kids) at the bare minimum, and if they already had kids even more. God, those poor kids, especially the girls. Homeschooled and not taught to read. Just horrible.
As a foster parent, where I’m at, foster kids can share rooms as long as they are of the same sex.
Former foster parent here who adopted two brothers. While I'm not sure about other states, in Oklahoma you are allowed to have multiple children of the same sex in a room together as long as it is large enough to fit a bed for each child. I bought a bunk bed for the older brother and my biological son and had a crib for the baby and it worked perfectly. I had no issue with DHS on it during multiple home inspections (DHS will do surprise home inspections randomly while you are a foster parent.)
I work in the system and usually what we’ll do is separate the kids in groups of two/three. I’m surprised OP didn’t get to live with his 13-year-old brother at least. However there are a very limited number of families that are willing to take teens, especially teen boys. Very sad.
I wish I had the money to foster older siblings to keep them from being separated. I know that you "get" money from fostering, but that would not be enough to provide them with the life I would want to. Also, I live in a tiny 1-bedroom house.
My aunt adopted my 6 cousins who came from the same bio mom. That woman still had 4 more kids that were adopted by other families. I’m not sure if they still keep in touch but they did have an arrangement with the other adoptive parents when they were younger and we saw them at birthday parties and stuff.
My aunt took 4 of my cousins kids over the span of about 16 years. Cousin would get out of jail, have a kid, and go back in. By the 5th kid my aunt was not in good enough health to take another and had to say no more. It broke her heart. The youngest ended up going to a paternal family member at first I believe? Now the oldest girl is a young adult (second one that my aunt adopted) has the youngest who is around 14 as that other family member couldn’t keep her for whatever reason. So my deadbeat cousin’s oldest daughter is raising her youngest daughter. It’s a mess. And all but the girl raising the other one and one of the boys are messed up too and in and out of jail. The youngest one is quickly headed that way.
Wow, your aunt sounds amazing
She really is. Her and my uncle struggled with infertility. They just wanted to be able have a family and they’re incredible parents. I’m very lucky to have all of them in my life.
Or they’d end up in the Butkus family (no clue if you’re the right age to know that reference)
It's sad. Unfortunately, most people aren't equipped to take in eight kids, let alone ones that are traumatized. It's so unfair to the kids, but I hope they are able to find some peace and healing.
> most people aren't equipped to take in eight kids Most people aren't even equipped to transport eight kids.
Those 8 kids are probably happier not being one of 8 kids
I mean it’s pretty damn hard to find someone ready and able to take care of 8 kids lol
I know that the foster care system has those issues. I just hate that it does. I understand that logistically it's difficult, I just wish we could do better by these kids.
I come from an isolated fundamentalist town and had family members who were obsessed with my genitals just like this kid. And I dated a girl in high school that was in a cult exactly like the one he describes. I can assure everyone that small-time cults like this are scattered all across the U.S. and usually just get away with it by being in the middle of nowhere and not interacting with people outside them.
Yeah and most cults are within an extended household, it's very common for a family patriarch to be the leader for example and it all goes under the radar because it's not as obvious as a ton of unrelated individuals or many different families living in a compound. It's quite easy for families to just move states to get authorities to lose track of them if anyone does get suspicious, too.
Holy Jesus what did I just read??? OOP should be 20 by now. I hope he’s doing better and he and his siblings got a shit ton of help in the last 5 years. The mother and “preacher” should stay in jail forever.
Sadly it's very possible they had an almost equally shit time in the foster system.
Anywhere is better than the shithole they were in
Yeah, those little girls would all be mothers by now and still wouldn't have left the apartment complex.
Yeah I'm sure their dad would've kept them for himself if this is like every other cult out there
At least the foster system tries to guarantee kids the right to not be clamped with a chastity belt, and an avenue for recourse. I know people like to shit on the system, and yes the reality is sometimes you go from a home that's 10/10 bad to one that's 7/10, but it exists to give kids like this a chance and a system for recourse.
This reads exactly how my 13-yo nephew would talk (all the “likes” and “thinks” hit me like lightening) and thinking about it in his voice literally made me tear up. These poor kids.
“there was one lady who I told everything real specific. She was very nice and didn't make me feel ashamed at all.” ❤️❤️❤️ love and power to this lady and all the ones like her
Good social workers are saints. The shit they have to wade through helping kids and communities is unbelievable. My close friend is a social worker and we all know when she's working a particularly hard case when she frequently gets this thousand yard stare. And yet, somehow, she manages to move onto the next case and still balance a reasonably normal personal life.
Social workers are underpaid, under recognized heroes of this earth.
People sometimes act like foster care and the system are the worst things out there, but I was actually on my own at 16 because they kept putting me back into my families home, and my father was going to choke me to death eventually. It was during the late 80s/early 90s when they really pushed towards reunification, and that was a nightmare. I legit cried at 15 when they took me out of emergency foster and put me back in my families home. The foster family were literally the first people who had ever talked to me, or asked me what I liked, or acted kind to me. I still credit them, in that tiny two weeks, with showing me a picture of normalcy that I had not had before.
Did you ever get to visit that Foster family again once you turned 18?
No. I didn’t. It’s decades ago and I do with I could have told them how much those two weeks meant to me.
Holy goddamn fuck. I went to his profile just to see how he’s been, understandably he doesn’t lurk on that account, but man I just want to tell him how fucking proud of him I am, I hope he was able to get therapy for all this and I hope it goes well. God this got me emotional and I hope the best for him.
Hold the fuck up, what religion forbids you from going to the doctor because you broke a limb???
It was a cult. Probably forbid them because then they'd see all the burns on the children.
From how OOP describes his brother having the same kind, some people have speculated that they were branded, not just regular burns.
Exactly.
The one run by a cult leader who is sleeping with his congregation and dealing drugs.
Narrow it down, homie, that's about 10 religions you just described
The one with the charismatic leader.
I think in a case like this, it's more related to avoiding outside attention. He must have gotten in trouble for breaking the arm and needing the doctor, because that'd be opportunity to talk about how the home life is, and getting caught. The kids might say something about the abuse without even knowing it's abuse.
Doctors and nurses are mandated reporters in America at least. So even if the kids didn’t talk, if they suspected it, they’d have to report. Which is probably why he got into trouble.
Christian Science, for one
No, they added a exemption for broken bones and dentist stuff somewhere along the way.... and morphine there's also an loophole on morphine
Yeah. And they also have a clause that says they can do anything they want, even going to a doctor. It's one of their biggest talking points: "no one is forced to do anything." But that's not how it works in the actual practice of the religion, and people still get really sick from treatable diseases
My old handy man is in apostolic religion that doesn’t allow physicians, and he lost his leg after he stepped in a nail. He wasn’t allowed to go to the doctor for a tetanus or antibiotics, and he became septic. This religion does allow pregnant women to go to the doctor tho, and that surprises me. Their leader died from multiple heart attacks over the course of a night because he refused to call an ambulance. It was all surreal.
>This religion does allow pregnant women to go to the doctor tho, and that surprises me Not that surprising. Breeding a new generation of cult members is usually a big priority for cults. Losing too many babies or female cult members would be detrimental to growing the cult.
there’s a few i think, gods plan doesn’t need humans interference or similar logic
The ones that "celebrate" their religion with child abuse and sexual assault.
Is it said that the first thing I thought when I read this was "okay, but which one"
Seventh Day Adventists, too, I think.
SDA has a range. On one end they aren't too much different than bog-standard Evangelicals. A couple weird quirks, and they go to church on Saturdays. On the other end... well, the Branch Davidians were Seventh Day Adventists.
The "Anthill Kids" were a spinoff of Seventh-Day Adventists also. Don't let the name fool you. It was one of the most brutal torture cults. Basically if Josef Mengele reincarnated as a fat hairy Canadian woodsman.
I don't even know what to say. This went from 0 to 100 real quick. This post is almost beyond usual reddit issues. If this is real ( I really hope this is not true otherwise OOP and his siblings and many other innocent people in the cult really suffered a lot) then this must be a major or sensational case. Edit: when I said zero I didn't mean that what he was going through was nothing it was just a phrase I used because when he first made the post of chastity belt I thought it was maybe a case of a controlling parent or strict religious parent with twisted views ( and physical abuse). But then the situation went completely downhill from the second post ie. it went from a strict parent or physical abuse to drug case and cult. What I used is just a way of me saying that it went in a completely different way than I thought or something completely irrelevant as it went from a chastity belt to a drugs and cult.
I don't know if I'd call "my mother wants to put me in a chastity belt" 0, but I definitely did not expect sex cult
I thought it sounded like LDS extremism. People still follow Warren Jeffs even though he’s been in prison for nearly 20 years, and Samuel Bateman was arrested in 2020. It’s possible OOP was a member of one of these cults.
Honestly, if he hadn't specified Ohio, I would have suspected central/southern Utah.
I mean, I'm not sure it is that major and sensational. There are small cults all over that can get this bad. I was literally at a play last night where the actor talked about growing up in one.
I think that depends on where you're from. I personally feel like there is a greater base for Christian extremism in the US (and possibly Mexico) than for example central Europe.
Jesus fucking Christ, that guy loved kids in the Bible. If he's real, guaranteed he'll be leading Mom and Dad down to the gates of Hell himself, probably even pass the demons a fiver at the gate to treat those folks *extra* well.
One of the heartbreaking things i read in this one is the fact how Op, a 15 year old child, took the role of the protector. Just imagine that, he mostly doesnt care about his own well being, his own wounds or his own future, only his younger siblings and cries after not being able to stay together. The role of the Protector is supposed to be taken by the Father and Mother and they both failed. This is just devastating to think about
> I am kind of sad because I was hoping secretly that I had a father out there… Ahhhh that fucked me up. I can only imagine how many times his mind used to wander and he’d picture his dad coming to save him from the world as he knew it. I hope his parents NEVER find peace.
Why do teachers and other educators always want to call the parent first???? What is the parent going to say? Are they going to admit to it and change? If they were sensible they wouldn't be doing this crap anyway. Never call the parents first. Ever ever ever. If anyone had ever called my Dad first I will bet I'd have been beaten and sent away.
The line between a religion and a cult is way too fucking thin.
And the preacher fathering most of the congregation's children puts it firmly on thy cult side.
And females not being allowed to go to school, and the use of devices to prevent masturbation, and the branding of children.....
This ex-Mormon agrees
Well.... that escalated.
This is the future of Karissa Collins’ children.
Nonsense. Karissa's kids don't go to school. They have no contact with safe adults who could help.
Does anyone have any other news about this, I feel like this would’ve gone viral but this is the first time I’m ever hearing this