By Bethy

I’m the eldest daughter of Peter Amsterdam, (currently co-administrator of the Family with Maria) and as I was growing up, I lived in or visited the household of Father David and Maria four times.

My first encounter with Father David occurred when I was six years old. At age 10 I spent a month living in his home. At 12 I spent another six months in his home. Finally, at the age of 14 I spent an additional eight months living in his household.
I have many vivid and fond memories of these periods of time.

I’ve read the transcript of the Montel Williams show, “Escaping a Cult” and I am shocked and disgusted by what I feel is an extremely inaccurate picture painted by Davida of life as a child and teenager in Father David’s household.

I simply cannot reconcile the things she alleges with my own very clear memories of the time I spent in that same household during some of the same time periods. I cannot begin to compare the reality of my own experiences to the dark picture she paints.

The mistreatment of, harm, and abuse of children that she describes are not at all part of my experiences. I was always treated kindly and fairly while in Father David’s household.

The idea that Father David lived in luxury and mansions is preposterous. The houses in which I visited him were large, but that would be because they adequately housed between 25-40 people. Luxurious would never be a word that I would use to describe his dwellings.

Having spent my childhood and most of my adult years in WS units of some sort, and also having visited some Family Homes, I feel that I’m qualified to say that the lifestyle within WS is at least as economical if not more so than the frugal missionary life that most of our Family communities lead.

By Dan, 25
February 13, 2007

A friend recently pointed me to the transcript of a TV talk show on The Family. They thought I’d be interested to see the comments made by Davida about her life and childhood in WS–probably because I shared the same lifestyle to a certain extent. My parents were WS workers when I was born, and I’ve grown up in WS, received my education in WS, and eventually found my vocation in WS where I continue to work as a project manager with our internet/software department. I also met my wife in WS, and we’re raising our two children here. It’s safe to say that I’ve lived a pretty WS-centric life. (more…)

From Lorie Richards, February 6, 2007

I don’t watch the Montel Williams show, because I don’t watch much TV at all. For the most part I feel I have better things to do with my time. For a little entertainment, I’ll have at most one show at a time that I follow. Right now it’s “Lost”—how unusual and original, I know. All that to say, I haven’t seen and won’t be watching the program today, but when I happened upon the advertisement blurb posted on their web site, and saw some of the allegations being aired by former Family members, I felt I ought to say a few things via whatever platform I could. (more…)

From Claire Borowik

It has come to my attention that a number of the Family’s former members are under the mistaken impression that the Family was invited to participate in the Montel Williams show or present a written statement.

For the record, neither myself or any Family spokesperson was contacted by the Montel Williams show or offered an opportunity to appear on the show or present a written statement, either in 2005 when the show first aired or for the follow-up show of February 2007. I suspect that the brief remarks that Montel Williams read on the show may have come from a statement I issued to Good Morning America in January 2005. I cannot, however, ascertain that this is the case, as I never had any direct contact with the program. I did send a letter of complaint via the 2,000 character box allowed for comments to shows, but this was not quoted on the show (understandably since by the time I heard about the program it had presumably long been pre-taped).

That is not considered a sufficient right of response. It is the duty of the program to contact the parties involved and provide a platform of response. Whether Montel Williams indicated that the Family was contacted is quite irrelevant to me, as the Family was not contacted. To date, this is the only program in the States that I am aware of that aired this story since 2005, that did not contact the Family and offer us the possibility of either issuing a statement or appearing on the program.

Re Escaping a Cult
To Montel Williams Show and Producers

I am writing to express how appalled I am at your program’s one-sided coverage. This is the second time you are airing a program featuring former members of my church, the Family International, and their allegations without contacting our church, or providing us an opportunity of response. You don’t even provide any means to contact you or send in any information. (more…)

Montel Williams Show in the States (an afternoon gossip show for housewives) ran a negative program about the Family today, featuring a number of our apostates and alleging that abuse of children is encouraged in the Family, placing Family children at risk. Since the show allows no opportunity for response, neither provided a voice for the Family, we are posting some responses here.

• From Claire Borowik for the Family International
• Right of Response to the Montel Williams show
• A response to Montel Williams show: “Escaping a Cult”
• It Wasn’t Like That
• I Was There
• To Whom This May Concern