“I wouldn’t trade my upbringing for anything. Now I have my own family and I pray they can one day turn around and say the same about me and their heritage.”

—Raquel, 27, second-generation member of the Family International.

“Granted, our way of life is not suited to all, and I’ve experienced that with my own family firsthand. However, I’m sure my brothers and sisters can attest with me that we were never abused or suffered the abuse the Family is currently being accused of by some today. To the contrary, we were loved and cared for dearly.”

—Knight, 29, second-generation member of the Family International.

“Through the slander and efforts of a minority of Family ‘haters,’ my mom and my brother and sisters were ripped out of bed in a pre-dawn raid and taken by authorities to an institution in Buenos Aires, Argentina. There, they were abused, probed, fondled and literally terrorized by teams of doctors, police and psychologists off and on for a period of about two months. The trauma they endured lasted months afterward, and disturbed them psychologically for years. That’s my personal family’s experience with abuse.”

—Knight, 29, second-generation member of the Family International.

“So … if someone we love is disturbed, are we expected to buy into their pathology to prove that we care???”

—Gina Wilson, 29, second-generation member of the Family International.

“I’m not going to say that the Family is perfect, and there are things that I maybe don’t agree with or things I would have done differently, but nothing to the extreme that “Davidito” (Ricky Rodriguez) was talking about. Maybe I’m just naive and innocent but I also grew up in the Family, I’ve been here for 29 years, I’ve been in some of the “communes” these ex-members grew up in, and it seems to me that they mix a lot of fiction with a little truth.”

—Nina Moore, 29, second-generation member of the Family International.

“I respect those of my friends and peers who have decided to leave the Family, most of whom have found something productive to do with their lives, but I don’t appreciate and won’t stand by while some of you look for ways to trample our rights and lives as individuals.”

—Maya Stone, 29, second-generation member of the Family International.

“I don’t believe in violence and have never been a victim of abuse or physical violence in all my years in the Family, either as a kid, teenager or now a mother.”

—Maya Stone, 29, second-generation member of the Family international.

“The reality is, you don’t get a healthier and safer environment to raise children than the Family, and the sad but angering fact is that those who are maligning us know this. Ricky [Rodriguez] knew this.”

—Anne Boleijn, 30, second-generation member of the Family International.

“I’m sure the Bible would have a completely different tale to tell if those who wrote about the life of Jesus were those who crucified him, rather than Mathew, Mark, Luke, and John.”

—Robin Suttin, 30, second-generation member of the Family International

“If I thought my son was ever in danger I’d leave the Family quicker than you can say ‘bungling apostate.’”

—Jude Osborn, 32, second-generation member of the Family International.

“I have been in many of the ‘training centers’ and programs that so many people have complained about, and I can honestly say that though they may have been tough, it was nothing compared to places like West Point, or the youth detention centers I have been involved with helping. At least for the most part, we had people who were concerned about us and had our best interests at heart.”

—Zeph Fischer, 31, second-generation member of the Family International.

“In the 30 years that I have lived within Family homes and in the Family environment I was never abused or harmed in any way by members of the Family. I have lived in several countries, dozens of cities and homes and with hundreds of Family members over the years.”

—Michelle D’Cruz, 30, second-generation member of the Family International.

“Anyway, when all is said and done, I can only speak from my own experience and speak out about my life and what I know to be true. We have nothing to hide or be ashamed of. So bring it on. Ask away.”

—Nadia Paone, 30, second-generation member of the Family International.

“In all the time that [Ricky Rodriguez] and I were friends and in all the conversations we had—and there were many—he never once expressed hate or anger towards those who had raised him, those he lived with, or the circumstances in which he lived his life.”

—Bethy K., 31, second-generation Family member, mother of one.

“To attempt justification, under any motive, for an act that God and society have condemned since Cain killed Abel, is … clearly mistaken.”

—Lorie Richards , 30, second-generation member of the Family International.

“Yes, in the Family we have some unorthodox and untraditional beliefs, but they are ours, we don’t impose them on anyone else. Some might think some of our beliefs are weird, and maybe they are, but they’re not illegal.”

—Anne Boleijn, 30, second-generation member of the Family International.

“I feel at ease knowing that all the children and young people in our Family Homes are free and protected from any harm in the way of physical, emotional, or sexual abuse.”

—Robin Suttin, 30, second-generation member of the Family International.

“Between the age of 7 and 8 my immediate family left the Family to pursue a secular life. As ironic as it may seem to some people, I suddenly found myself surrounded by abusive situations.”

—Jude Osborn, 31, second-generation member of the Family International.

“I am just a little older than Ricky [Rodriguez] so we both lived through the same time periods or ‘phases’ in the Family, and all throughout my 29 years I have never personally seen nor experienced anything unloving, dangerous, or damaging to myself or any other children as I grew up in Family communities all throughout Australia, India, Japan, the Philippines, and New Zealand.”

—April Fischer, 30, second-generation member of the Family International.

“It would be naïve to say the Family never made any mistakes as ‘errare humanum est’* (*see your Latin dictionary). Bad things happen to everybody. Nobody has a ‘perfect’ life. It’s about learning to take the bad things and using them as stepping stones, learning from them and not getting bitter and resentful.”

—Zeph Fischer, 31, second-generation member of the Family International.

“My prayer is that before you come to a conclusion regarding the Family and before you tolerate the death of an innocent missionary at the hand of a disturbed and mentally unstable man, that you ask yourself ‘what is the truth?’”

—Samuel Paquette, 30, second-generation member of the Family International.

“Believe me, I wouldn’t raise my kids in an environment that was dangerous and harmful! I’d be a fool! I raise my children—and I have 3 of them now, a 5 year old, 3 year old, and a baby—in the Family because I believe this is a very healthy and wholesome place to raise children where we teach them love, grace, goodness, and godly principles and qualities.”

—Michelle D’Cruz, 30, second-generation member of the Family International.

“I can remember times when I wished life was easier in the Family communities. As a group, we have gone through a natural process of growing and learning—what some have termed in the 70’s, a ‘maturation of a movement.’ This I’ve experienced to some degree while living as a teenager mostly. One thing I can say, is that since those turbulent teenage years our leadership has done their best to ensure that any problems have been sorted out.”

—Bernadine Wolford, 32, second-generation member of the Family International.

“I have seen and ministered to enough abuse victims in our outreach ministries to be well aware and informed of what abuse is and is not! And I am strong on this point that I will NEVER live in a place or environment where I feel my children are at risk in any way.”

—Esther Stevens, 31, second-generation member of the Family and mother of five.

“I understand that not everybody will look back and be crazy about their upbringing, their lot in life, their parents, even their own choices, as they grow older. But isn’t that part of maturity and growing up—learning to take the responsibility for your future and not constantly looking for someone to blame for why your life is the way it is right now?”

—Nadia Paone, 30, second-generation member of the Family International.

“There are more than a thousand second-generation young people in the Family today who feel, like me, that we have a great life to talk about.”

—Marianne Mullen, 32, second-generation member of the Family International.

“While life for anybody in this world has its ups and downs, living the Christian lifestyle within the Family and learning about our unique beliefs has helped me to maximize the ups and minimize the downs as well as learn how to make the most out of the downs.”

—Vas Myers, 31, second-generation member of the Family International.

“I’m 31 years old and have 2 great kids! I’ve been around the world with my little family and been to lots of Family ‘homes’ and there is no abuse going on!”

—Isaac Larson, second-generation member of the Family.

“It’s clear that failing to present the view of our approx. 1800+ current member youth would be like trusting Saddam Hussein to be your only source in obtaining a true account of President Bush’s childhood.”

—Andrew De Bezenac, 30, second-generation member of the Family.

“Here’s my statement: I have never been abused, nor have I ever witnessed any abuse, nor was I raised in a cult. I was raised by missionary parents who truly loved and cared for me and who generously laid down their lives to help others.”

—Michael Mullen, 35, second-generation Family member.

“I know what it’s like to go from being the Family’s most ardent supporter, to feeling hate and bitterness towards the Family to the point of wanting to take action against it. And what was even more confusing to me when trying to interpret and figure out such a change of emotions, was that there was never any real basis for my growing bitterness and hate for the Family.”

—Mark Elder, second-generation former member in his early thirties.

“I lived with or around Ricky [Rodriguez, a.k.a. Davidito] for part of his upbringing during the time such ‘abuses’ would have occurred, and I never witnessed anything of the sort.”

—Bethy K., 31, second-generation Family member, mother of one.