My name is Anaik Faith Alcasas. I’m 29 years old, and was born and raised in the Family International. I’m married to Michael Alcasas, and I have one son, named Justin, soon to be a year old. We currently reside in the United States.

My maiden name is Anaik Faith Adair, of “Adair and Others” court-case fame in Sydney, Australia.* In 1992, pre-dawn raids were carried out on Family communities in Australia, and six of my younger siblings were taken into the custody of social services for a brief time until their mental, emotional, and educational health was established. A lawyer, upon meeting Family children at that time, for the first time, described them as “articulate.” (*See web site reference for details at the end of this letter.)

To date, a total of 700 children from Family communities worldwide have been similarly examined by social services and the courts in several countries. The children have received a clean bill of health. If you took a random sampling of 700 children from society at large, in any country, one must question whether 100 percent of them would be found to be free of emotional, physical, and educational abuse.

The Family is a relatively small Christian movement, yet it’s been examined and held under a microscope by countless professionals in academic and judicial communities the world over. Academic papers, books, and published court decisions abound. One must wonder at the intelligence of those in the mass media when, rather than publishing findings from the writings of respected academics in the field of new religious movements, there is instead focus on the sensationalistic rantings of a small, virulent circle of former members who are unquestionably biased and—whether it’s fame, money, or Oprah-style pity they seek—are bound to have ulterior motives at heart.

I’ve had trouble sleeping the last few nights. I have to live with the knowledge that a dear friend and coworker—Angela Smith—lost her life in a cruel and violent way. This outburst of hatred and violence is so diametrically opposed to my life’s goals and dreams, to my upbringing in the Family, and to my feelings toward my fellow man. I was raised to live the golden rule of “do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” and to see in each person a picture of my Savior Jesus, Who said (to paraphrase the Bible verse slightly:) “Inasmuch as you have done it to the least of these My brethren, you’ve done it unto Me.” It’s a high ideal, one which I can’t say I’ve fully reached yet, but I do know that Angela Smith believed this and succeeded in reaching it in a beautiful way that touched many lives. She is a saint to me.

I bear no ill will toward my peers who were once a part of the Family yet chose a different lifestyle. I respect their decisions, and am grateful that most of my friends who were once Family members also respect my decision to remain in the movement. I pray we can all put this horrendous memory behind us and fight with renewed determination for a civil and open dialogue of friendship and good will.

I personally knew Ricky Rodriguez, and lived with him and his girlfriend for a few years, in the mid nineties. I’m appalled that he chose to kill two people—Angela and then himself—and so end his life this way. I wasn’t there for his childhood, but when I knew him as an adult, I thought he was a great person—interesting to talk to, possessing a healthy sense of humor, fun to be around, open, honest, and reliable. We had a lot of good times together. He had no marks of mental or emotional anguish at his upbringing—the now-purported reason for his crime. To the contrary, he presented himself as a very stable individual. I can only surmise that he went the way of all apostasy upon his exit from the movement, by taking in the extremist views and writings of others and then reinventing his own world view, including his opinion of his upbringing and time in the Family. (This phenomenon is also well documented in the writings of academia.) The fact that at the end of it all he went so far as to take someone else’s life and then his own, indicates to me that more than anything he suffered dementia near the end, for it is truly insanity to kill, and it’s not how he or any children in the Family are raised. We’re taught to cherish life—both our own lives and the lives of others—and to seek to use our time upon this earth to do good for mankind, and not evil.

The mass media has picked up this story of the murder-suicide involving Ricky Rodriguez, and it threatens to blow into a great storm of hysteria. Negative, angst-ridden words are flying around the globe, directed at the Family International, through newspaper articles and now televised news stories, and one must ask, where are the level-headed people? Where are the hard-nosed, serious journalists who are going to look to and publish respected and professional sources of information about the Family International? I pray you’re out there, and that you will come to the fore before lesser men do too much damage. At this point in time, if you go by what the news media has been publishing these last two weeks, the average member of the general public who hasn’t had access to credible writing on the Family can only assume that we are an abusive and evil fellowship, fit only to be blotted from the face of the earth.

My little boy, Justin, is the apple of my eye. My husband and I cherish him beyond words. We reserve our dearest dreams and highest aspirations for his life and well being. He’s a lucky little kid. He gets to grow up in a loving and nurturing environment that makes up a typical Family community, and I fully plan to home school him so that he can join the ranks of the academically advanced home-schooled population in the United States. Just as important, he gets to grow up in an environment where he’ll never have to see disturbing images of substance abuse, or domestic violence, a place in which people in all their interactions with him will confirm and build on a positive self image. He will grow up knowing that he has unlimited potential to use his life for good. The Family has the kind of environment that every little child on the planet deserves, but relatively few are blessed with. If I thought there were a better environment for our son, you can bet your britches my husband and I would switch over to it in a jiffy. As I told my own parents when I enjoyed a holiday with them in early 2004 in Sydney, Australia, I have no complaints about my upbringing. I trust my son will be able to say the same to his parents when he is of age.

My younger brothers and sisters already underwent the painful experience of separation from their parents—as did approximately 700 other Family children—in order to satisfy the curiosity and concern of public officials who were in doubt as to the quality of life enjoyed by children in the Family. Please don’t condemn my little boy to the same unnecessary and traumatic experience of being torn away from all that he knows and loves, through your silence. Please don’t stand by while a few vocal malcontents spin a web of deceit, in direct contradiction to all that has been written and published on the Family International. Find out for yourself—visit one of our Family communities today in your local area, visit the Family International’s official website to find out what it is we’re doing scattered in over 100 countries on the globe, and/or dig into one of the many well-respected books and papers written on the Family. We want you to rest at ease that we are sincere Christians just trying to do our little part to make the world a better place.

Now it’s up to you to pursue and catch up with the truth.

Relevant Websites:

Details of “Adair and Others” court case in Sydney, Australia, 1992:
http://www.thefamily.org/dossier/legal/australia.htm

The Family International’s official website:
http://www.thefamily.org

Third Party writings on the Family International:
http://www.thefamily.org/dossier/referrals/index.html

Michael and Anaik Alcasas’ personal family website:
http://mikanafams.blogspot.com/

To find and visit a local Family community where you live, call or e-mail:
family@thefamily.org
1-800-4-A-FAMILY
(1-800-423-2645)

Anaik F. Alcasas is a second generation member of the Family International, currently residing in the United States.