This is a  staff list for Hephzibah House in Winona Lake/Warsaw, IN 

(we are working to acquire the complete records for ALL years)

 

We advise current and/or former staff to report any abuses you may have witnessed while working at Hephzibah House.  For information on your rights and how to take action, visit www.heal-online.org/blowthewhistle.htm.  If you were fired or forced to resign because you opposed any illegal and/or unethical practices at Hephzibah House, you have the right to take action. 

 

If you were harmed (family or survivor) by Hephzibah House, please contact info@heal-online.org if you remember the long-term employees and from which years.  This will help!   Also, if you recognize any of these staff as having worked at another program, please send in any information about their past or present employment at other facilities and/or cults.

 

Please don’t place your loved one in Hephzibah House and rescue them if they are there now. 

 

Name

Unit/Position

 Additional Information
Ron Williams Founder Please contact us with more information on the staff at this program.*
*(Hephzibah House, like many other programs in this industry, keeps a "tight lid" on any specific information regarding their staff, qualifications, and practices.  Please contact us with the names of any staff of which you have firsthand knowledge or experience.  Thank you for your help.)
External Link: http://formerhephzibahgirls.webs.com/
External Link: www.hephzibahhouse.com/
HEAL Celebrates Hephzibah Survivors on our History Page.

Residential Children's Programs Target Of Legislation--November 4th, 2008--Oct. 17, a group of former students of a local boarding school for girls stood outside the Kosciusko County Courthouse demonstrating against physical, emotional and mental abuse they allege they suffered.

With them stood several members of a local task force formed to pursue a change in state law to require more accountability for residential programs for children. The local task force members are not the only ones looking for such a law change.

Congress also is eyeing a bill aimed at preventing child abuse in residential programs, public or private, nationwide.

The bill is called HR 6358. It passed the House of Representatives June 25 and is currently in the Senate. HR 6358 calls for more public accountability. If the bill is passed in its current form, the school that former students were demonstrating against, Hephzibah House, and similar organizations may fall under its jurisdiction. Hephzibah House is a "private Christian boarding school for teenage girls," according to the school's Web site.

According to the bill, covered programs would include public or private organizations, which operate residential environments including boot camps, therapeutic boarding schools and behavior modification programs, which operate with a focus on serving children with emotional, behavioral or mental problems or disorders or problems with alcohol or substance abuse. The bill would not cover hospitals licensed by the state or foster family homes which are licensed and regulated by the state and in which children are placed by the state.

The bill would prohibit disciplinary techniques or other practices that involve the withholding of essential food, water, clothing, shelter or medical care necessary to maintain physical health, mental health and general safety; physical and mechanical restraints and seclusion. The bill also would prohibit acts designed to humiliate, degrade or undermine a child's self-respect. Residential facilities covered by the bill would be required to provide "reasonable access for making and receiving phone calls with as much privacy as possible and shall have access to the appropriate state or local child abuse reporting hotline number and the national hotline number."

The bill would establish penalties for facilities cited with violations, including fines. Enforcement measures would be established including unannounced inspections, licensing requirements and new databases.

HR 6358 passed through the House with a vote of 318 ayes to 103 nays, with 13 present not voting. Of the nine Indiana Representatives who voted on the bill, six voted for it and three against it. Local Dist. 3 Representative Mark Souder voted against the bill.

"I believe these things should be worked through at the state and local level," said Souder. "I voted for the Republican alternative both in committee and elsewhere that would increase state regulation."

Souder said the alternative proposal did not include increased federal oversight.

"Obviously, I believe there needs to be some additional controls, particularly for those who abuse kids, it's a terrible tragedy," he said. "We need also better enforcement. But, I do not favor the federal government taking over something I believe can be regulated at the state and local level."

Souder said he could get behind increasing federal oversight if state regulations could not be stiffened or in cases dealing with multiple states, but he said increasing federal regulations is a last resort. "I don't think we're there yet," Souder said.

Becky Moreno, victim's assistance advocate with the Warsaw Police Department, organized the local task force seeking change in Indiana law. Moreno said she supports HR 6358.

"I think this bill is an excellent step toward preventing child abuse and bringing about some accountability that is otherwise lacking," Moreno said. "Child abuse is a national problem. Anything that could be done to prevent this problem everywhere would be the best-case scenario."

The bill is currently under review in the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

For information on HR 6358, visit www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h110-6358 (Webmaster Note:  See HEAL's Position Statement Calling for Revision of HR 6358)  For complete story, click here.

Former Hephzibah House Students Demonstrate, Advocate For Change--October 18th, 2008--Eight women sat in the lobby of a local hotel Friday morning, swapping stories of common experiences they say occurred when they were students at Hephzibah House, a Warsaw boarding school for girls.  The women come from several different states, and the stories they tell are stories of physical, emotional and mental abuse.  For complete story, click here.

Former Hephzibah students attract support--October 17th, 2008--

A group of protestors sent a message today.

They're not going away and they're gaining more support.

You may have seen them in front of the Kosciusko County Courthouse, today.

Fox 28's Traci Capellman has been following the allegations against Hephzibah House for several months now and has the latest.

Warsaw has seen some of these protestors before, a group of former students from Hephzibah House. It's a religious boarding school for troubled teen girls.

But today, they were joined by alot of new faces. A group of students from Grace College, and community members were showing their support by handing out fliers.

We introduced you to these former students back in June. They were there at the school at different times, but have similar allegations. They say they were severely beaten, strip searched, in some cases starved, and isolated from their families.

The former students and protestors would like to see a change in Indiana law holding residential care facilities for children more accountable. And a local task force of concerned community members has formed to offer their support.

These students are also seeing support from former students of other schools across the country. Students like Suzanne Pucket who came from Ohio and Tony Connelly who came from Kentucky (HEAL Coordinator). They went to different boarding schools for at-risk kids, schools they say used similar tactics.

 Tony Connelly who was supporting the protestors says, "I really just hope the truth comes out. I want the public to be aware of what is actually truthfully happening inside these programs because I believe if the public really knew what happened inside these programs instead of believing the lies told by these organizations, they wouldn't stand for it." (Quote amended for accuracy by HEAL Team)

Likewise, Susanne Puckett says, "Alot of these places try to silence their victims voices and we're here to let them know, we're not gonna be silenced anymore."

In another new development, the former Hephzibah students tell Fox 28 they have requested their medical records from the school. While the school hasn't complied, yet, they are trying to see if there is a link between health issues many of them have experienced. "Girls that have had reproductive problems, female problems, children with birth defects, difficulty conceiving. So, we're just finding compared to the general population, we have a much higher precentage of problems."

We placed calls to both Hephzibah House and their attorney, but they haven't returned our phone calls.

Fox 28 will continue to bring you the very latest.  (Also see: http://www.wsbt.com/news/local/31185769.html )  For complete story, click here.

 

HEAL Kentucky Protested Hephzibah House in June of 2008. 

9/1/2011 12:30:00 PM
Hephzibah House to be Featured in CNN Investigation
 
Aaron Organ
Staff Writer

Hephzibah House, the embattled private faith-based Winona Lake boarding school for troubled teenage girls, will be featured on CNN tonight as part of an ongoing series on child discipline and religion called “Ungodly Discipline.”

The school, which is affiliated with Believer’s Baptist Church, will be discussed on reporter Anderson Cooper’s popular news talk show, “Anderson Cooper 360” at 8 p.m., according to one woman interviewed for the story. A crew from the show interviewed former students on  their concerns of unorthodox discipline inside the not-for-profit school.

Hephzibah House founder and pastor Ron Williams was also interviewed for the story, the Times-Union has learned.

A call to Hephzibah House seeking comment was not returned.

“I am very excited that CNN is taking this issue public and I believe this is another opportunity to bring awareness to the horrific abuse that we endured at Hephzibah House,” said Jennifer Singleton, a former Hephzibah House student now living in Virginia. “I am hoping this gets us one more step closer to closing down Hephzibah House once and for all.”

Hephzibah House has long faced allegations from protesters that accuse the boarding school of abusing their students, often through excessive and unusual techniques. None have been proven.

A local task force designed to look into the claims was launched in 2008 by Warsaw Police Department Victim’s Advocate Becky Anglin, but it phased out after the group “couldn’t get anyone with any power to do anything,” she said. Anglin said the task force received substantial support from the community, but none from elected officials, and the force fizzled out as a result.

Hephzibah House and schools like it were also the topic of state and federal laws drafted to more closely monitor schools like Hephzibah and have had varying results.

The Stop Child Abuse in Residential Programs for Teens Act of 2009 was passed into legislation, requiring both public and private programs to meet minimum standards of student care. State bill HR 6358, drafted in 2008 to call for more public accountability and place schools like Hephzibah House under its jurisdiction, died in the State Senate.

Numerous former students of Hephzibah House, who call themselves “survivors,” have protested on city streets several times against the school.

 

Source: http://www.timesuniononline.com/main.asp?SectionID=82&SubSectionID=353&ArticleID=57766

 
External Link: http://hephzibah-girls.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2008-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&updated-m

 

 

(Kathryn Joyce's commentary on New Beginnings, New Bethany, and Hephzibah House begins approx. 19 minutes in and lasts until 57 minutes into the audio.)

 

(Hephzibah House Protest on March 25th, 2012)

 

(Hephzibah House Protest on March 25th, 2012)
External Link: http://www.hometownstations.com/story/17250447/child-abuse-protest-at-lima-church
External Link: http://chucklestravels.wordpress.com/2012/03/26/ohio-church-has-child-abuser-ron-williams-for-anniversary-sunday/#comment-2439

 

 Last Updated: March 27th, 2012

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