Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform > Facility Question and Answers

Roloffs

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Che Gookin:
Yo Homies.. Give me the 411 about this duckfarm!

1) Is this a single facility or multiple facilities under the same name?

2) Who owns it?

3) When did it open?

4) Where is it located?

5) When did you attend?

lorrispickelmire:
The names of the Roloff homes that I can definitely connect to Roloff Evangelistic Enterprises are as follows:
Bethesda Home (Girls), Rebekah Home (Girls), Redemption Ranch (Boys), Anchor Home (Boys), Ruth Home of Compassion (Girls), Lighthouse (16-24 young men), Lighthouse Intercoastal (16-24 young men), Jubalee (17 and up women), City of Refuge (Older Men), New Beginnings (Pace,FL), New Beginnings (MO), Happiness Hills (Girls), Mt. Park, VCA  there are at least 5 more homes currently in operation that I have not been able to get the names of.  

Roloff Homes were started in the late 50's by Lester Roloff and originally were of no cost to the parents of the children housed there.  Bethesda and Rebekah were used not only as girls homes, but as maternity homes, and the babies were taken from these girls and sold for generous "Love Messages" to Roloff supporters.  The only way a girl was allowed to keep her child was if the child was of mixed race.  

The first time Roloff got in trouble with the state of Texas was in 1971 when the Department of Public Welfare sent him a letter demanding that the enterprises either have the Rebekah and Anchor homes licensed, which meant conforming to the department's largely secular regulations, or close them down. Roloff and his associates staunchly opposed the agency's order, considering it a clear case of breach of church-state separation. The controversy resulted in charges of neglect and brutality, attacks by the Corpus Christi Caller-Timesqv and other Texas newspapers, weeks and months of counseling with attorneys, appearances in court, and numerous meetings with officials in Austin. Through it all, Roloff and his supporters stood firm in his belief that "love never overrides conviction," and many young lives continued to be salvaged through the Rebekah and Anchor Homes. Finally, Roloff reluctantly allowed the homes to be closed temporarily in October 1973, but on February 12, 1974, he allowed himself to be incarcerated for five days in the Nueces County Jail, where he had often preached to prisoners, in a successful move to reopen the homes. Finally, Roloff was granted a temporary reprieve in May, when the Texas Supreme Court ruled in his favor. With the passage of the Texas Child Care and Licensing Act in 1975, however, the conflict surfaced anew. This legislative bill, which many believed had been aimed specifically at Roloff Enterprises, became law in January 1976. It stated that children under eighteen must be placed in child-care facilities licensed by the DHS. Roloff and his supporters again refused to back down, and despite favorable reports on the facilities by Attorney General John Hill and state welfare inspectors, the DHS served a restraining order in May 1976. On June 21 Roloff again went to jail, again for five days, in an effort to keep the homes open. Then in October, the homes were again shut down and many of their residents taken by police to the Texas Youth Prison and other state juvenile facilities. But public support for Roloff Enterprises continued to grow, and the homes were opened throughout most of 1977 and 1978. On November 1, 1977, Roloff and his associates staged a patriotic rally in Dallas called "Save Our Nation," which was attended by over 10,000 people, including 1,500 preachers. Acting on the advice of Hill and other attorneys, Roloff took his case to the United States Supreme Court, which upheld the Texas law on October 2, 1978. Again, the state ordered Roloff to shut down the homes unless he submitted to a DHS license in June 1979. Rather than allow the young residents to be taken to state facilities, Roloff had them sent to the ministry's homes in Georgia and Mississippi. As part of that move, he and his supporters staged a protest rally on the grounds of the People's Baptist Church, attended by many prominent evangelists and concerned laypeople from across the nation, including Vietnam veteran Clebe McClary. This event became known as the "Christian Alamo." At that time Roloff Enterprises transferred ownership and operation of the homes and property to the People's Church, a move that enabled the homes to be opened once more in September. Although state officials continued to harass Roloff, prompting court appearances in Corpus Christi, Laredo, and Austin, thousands of troubled youth were again ministered to in the Rebekah and Anchor Homes.

In 1982 the plane Roloff flew crashed killing him and the four girls from Rebekah Home onboard.  Wiley Cameron took over as Pastor of the Peoples Baptist Church and overseer of all the homes and properties.  In 1985 once again the homes were closed down by the DHS and we (yes, I was there at this point) were bussed out in the middle of the night to Belton, Missouri.  The homes in Texas remained closed until 1999 when TACCCA gave the homes accredidation as Christian Schools.

In 2001 the Texas homes were closed down and Pastor Wiley Cameron Sr.'s wife was told she could never work with children in the state of Texas again because of abuse.  

I will tell you more later, but I have to quit now, I just found 4 more names of homes with varified connections on ISAC.

http://www.atheists.org/flash.line/texas2.htm
http://www.atheists.org/flash.line/texas3.htm
http://www.tfn.org/religiousfreedom/faithbased/roloff/
http://www.isaccorp.org/vca/lester-roloff.11.17.02.html

Anonymous:
I think an important question TSW didn't directly ask is if there are any Roloff-connected shitpits left in existence.

Che Gookin:
Good question... Are there any of the Roloff Facilities left in existence?

Did the facilities in general have the same common model of treatment/mistreament?

lorrispickelmire:
Yes, Unfortunately there are at least 9 still in existance.  One of which is a maternity home that does not allow the girls to keep their babies.  It is located in Tennessee, but I do not have the name.  It is connected to the VCA home which is also up and running, but maternity home does not go by VCA.  New Beginnings in Missouri is still running.  Happiness Hills is still operating, there are two girls homes and a boys home in North Carolina that I dont have the names of.  Mt. Park is still open, along with Palm Lane, Agape, and Bethel Academy.

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