This past weekend Christianity Today published an article by Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra titled\u00a0Missionary Donn Ketcham Abused 18 Children. Here\u2019s Why He Wasn\u2019t Stopped<\/a>. This article was written in\u00a0response the release of a\u00a0report created by Professional Investigators International (Pii)<\/a> on their investigation of the sexual\u00a0abuse allegations that had dogged\u00a0the\u00a0Association of Baptists for World Evangelism (ABWE) since the early 2000s. If you\u2019re a longtime reader, this will sound familiar<\/a>. If you\u2019re not, I\u2019ll fill you in in a moment. But for now, let me just state that Christianity Today needs to raise its bar for measuring\u00a0good faith sexual abuse prevention efforts.<\/p>\n In 1989, a 14-year-old missionary kid visiting home from Bangladesh told the pastor at her home church that Donn Ketcham, a missionary doctor who had been in\u00a0Bangladesh with ABWE since 1964, had sexually abused her. The girl\u2019s pastor handed her over to Ketcham\u2019s boss, who took her back to Bangladesh and confronted Ketcham, who confessed. Both Ketcham and the girl were made to sign confessions of adultery. Ketcham was let go from ABWE, with a vague reference to \u201csexual immorality\u201d as an explanation, and returned to the United States where he taught Sunday school and continued to practice medicine until 2012. No one with ABWE reported Ketcham\u2019s abuse or asked whether he had additional victims.<\/p>\n By the early 2000s, a number of additional now-grown missionary kids came\u00a0forward with allegations of abuse. ABWE initially promised to look into matters and began its own investigation. Frustrated by the lack of progress, the missionary kids started a blog in 2011. Two months later,\u00a0ABWE hired Boz Tchvidjian\u2019s organization, Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment (GRACE) to conduct an investigation, but ABWE fired GRACE\u00a0after two years, claiming that there were irregularities in the investigation. For its part, GRACE claimed that ABWE had continually refused to comply with their requests for various records. ABWE then hired Pii to finish the investigation, which now, after five years, is complete.<\/p>\n According to the Christianity Today article:<\/p>\n In February 2013, after two years of investigation,\u00a0ABWE fired GRACE<\/a>, alleging \u201ca myriad of investigative flaws.\u201d Pii was hired as a replacement, a move that alarmed victims.<\/p>\n . . .<\/p>\n In turn, GRACE\u00a0charged<\/a>\u00a0ABWE with \u201crepeated objections to providing requested documents\u201d and \u201cfailing to provide GRACE with access to crucial witnesses.\u201d<\/p>\n Pii stated that it was \u201cplagued by the same behaviors.\u201d<\/p>\n ABWE\u2019s legal coordinator Nancy Anderson lied about and hid the existence of hundreds of documents pertaining to Ketcham at the direction of ABWE attorney Robert Showers, according to the Pii report. After Showers was removed in 2014, Pii investigators were able to access more than 7,000 additional pages of evidence.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n What\u2019s odd is that in spite of this obstruction, Zylstra finishes with\u00a0the following:<\/p>\n ABWE has\u00a0worked to create a transparent culture<\/a>\u00a0and a policy that \u201cwill not accept even a hint of a mistake when it comes to child abuse.\u201d<\/p>\n A quarter-century ago, the process was \u201cfar too informal,\u201d said Cockrell [interim president of ABWE]. \u201cWe have worked very hard at changing the culture from that perspective. There is a different culture on the field today. There is a different culture in the home office today, for that matter.\u201d<\/p>\n Instead of dealing with whispers of abuse \u201cin house\u201d\u2014in the family-like environment on the field\u2014allegations are to be immediately reported to the home office, he said.<\/p>\n Policies aren\u2019t much good without the right personnel to enforce them, which ABWE believes are now in place. \u201cThere was inadequate training taking place in those days for those who were responsible, and the investigation revealed there were people who knew about the abuse,\u201d Cockrell told CT. \u201cThey did not follow up on the abuse, and that is totally unacceptable today.\u201d<\/p>\n The Pii report exposed \u201chow much harm and damage was done to the victims,\u201d said Cockrell.<\/p>\n \u201cOur greatest is concern is that we do everything we can to assist and help victims at this stage,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is our hope that God will allow us to fix some things.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n So let\u2019s get this straight. ABWE engaged in obstruction throughout both GRACE and Pii\u2019s investigations, and yet Zylstra\u00a0is ready to accept interim ABWE president Al Cockrell\u2019s word that ABWE has everything fixed now? Yes, ABWE attorney Robert Showers \u201cwas removed\u201d in 2014, but Cockrell was also\u00a0interim president from\u00a02011 until 2013, during\u00a0the entire period\u00a0of the obstruction of the GRACE investigation, and was on the board before\u00a0that time. This isn\u2019t new leadership. It\u2019s the same leadership that was in place during much of the obstruction, and even before that. The Pii\u00a0report does not fault Cockrell for the obstruction, but it also finds that Cockrell allowed Showers to retain his position even though he knew there was a conflict of interest. This should be concerning.<\/p>\n And it just so happens that the moderators of the Bangladesh MK blog, themselves among Ketcham\u2019s victims, find exactly this highly troubling. Zylstra quotes a brief preliminary response from the Bangladesh MK blog moderators in her article; this response states only\u00a0that the victims were still reading and processing the report. Zylstra does not include any quotes from Ketcham\u2019s victims, while quoting Cockrell\u00a0extensively. The Bangladesh MK blog moderators issued a more complete statement on May 10th, the day Zylstra\u2019s\u00a0article was published. In that statement\u00a0they were highly critical of ABWE. As of this writing, Zylstra\u2019s\u00a0article does not yet include an\u00a0update linking to this statement.<\/p>\n Note: Since publishing this piece, I have been informed that Zylstra did not reach out to the Bangladesh MK blog moderators in any way while writing her article, instead quoting a Mother\u2019s Day message from the group\u2019s\u00a0Facebook page in a way that made it sound as though they were pleased with the findings of the Pii report and the direction of ABWE. When the blog moderators contacted Zylstra she offered to swap the quote out for a new one. They gave her a brief\u00a0quote stating\u00a0that they were still reading the report, but asked that it be added to the end as an addendum so that what she originally wrote would be retained for clarity. Instead, Zylstra edited the article itself\u00a0and labeled the quote\u00a0the group\u2019s \u201cofficial statement,\u201d which it is not. The article has still not been updated to include\u00a0the group\u2019s actual official statement, and their perspective is thus wholly absent from an article that instead relies heavily on quotes from ABWE leadership.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Here is an excerpt from the Bangladesh MK blog moderators\u2019 official statement:<\/p>\n RE:\u00a0<\/b>ABWE\u2019s Obstruction of the Investigation:\u00a0<\/b>It would be easy for the current leadership and board at ABWE to feel good that they were not in leadership in 1989, as the report exposes terrible mishandling by those who were. However, we believe current ABWE leaders must examine what role they\u2019ve personally played in wounding the victims too. According to the report, ABWE\u2019s \u201cobstruction\u201d and delay of the investigation continued until as recently as 2014 and potentially 2015. (See Pii Report pages 130-142.)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Zylstra\u00a0may be willing to accept the ABWE leadership\u2019s statement that everything is in order now, but the victims of ABWE\u2019s failure to protect children from abuse at the hands of its sponsored missionaries are not so ready to uncritically accept\u00a0the organization\u2019s current assurances. And it sounds as though they have good reason.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s another bit from the group\u2019s statement:<\/p>\n RE:\u00a0<\/b>ABWE\u2019s Ongoing Disregard for Reporting Laws:\u00a0<\/b>In the process of the investigation, Pii uncovered three other alleged child abusers. (See page 136 of the Pii report.) ABWE delayed reporting one for over four months in 2013 and, according to the report, Pii has yet to receive confirmation that ABWE properly reported the other two. . . .\u00a0It\u2019s disturbing that Pii discovered ABWE was still not properly reporting allegations of abuse as of 2013\u2014two years after\u00a0ABWE promised the over 4,000 churches who support them that they had adopted child protection \u201cbest practices.\u201d . . .\u00a0ABWE claims they\u2019ve changed, but it\u2019s a really tough sell at this point. Who believes it anymore?<\/b><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Check this out, from page 136 of the report:<\/p>\n July 31, 2013: Pii notified the ABWE legal team, Robert Showers and Nancy Anderson, of an additional alleged child abuser discovered in the course of the investigation.<\/strong> The notification was delivered as instructed by ABWE and for the purpose of allowing ABWE to report the alleged abuse to authorities. Pii requested permission to investigate the matter on January 1, 2014, which request was denied by Robert Showers. The ABWE Board Meeting, Special Meeting, March 29, 2011, state: \u201cIt was confirmed that the ABWE Child Protection Policy approved by the Board in November 2010 addresses the issue of mandatory reporting for child abuse offenses.\u201d However, ABWE did not notify Pennsylvania authorities until December 3, 2013, just over 4 months later.<\/strong> Pii additionally notified the ABWE legal team of another alleged child abuser on November 13, 2013, and a third on December 30, 2013. To date, Pii has not received confirmation from ABWE that the proper authorities have been notified. Rather, ABWE stated that interviews were being conducted to determine whether or not to make such a report.<\/strong> The Pennsylvania Code, Subchapter E, Section 21.502 states that, \u201cOral reports of suspected\u00a0child abuse shall be made immediately by telephone\u2026\u201d and that \u201cWritten reports shall be made within 48 hours after the oral report is made by telephone\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n This was after<\/em> ABWE had created its interim policy for child protection<\/a>.<\/p>\n Let me finish by making two specific points. In my reading, it appears that the\u00a0moderators of the Bangladesh MK blog and many of the other victims they are in contact with do not feel that ABWE\u2019s current assurances that they have corrected their child protection policies can be trusted, given that even in the last five years, during GRACE and Pii\u2019s investigations, ABWE carried out obstruction and failed to notify authorities of new abuse allegations as required by law. ABWE has remained\u00a0under the same leadership throughout this period.<\/p>\n It could be that interim ABWE president Al Cockrell is completely genuine in wanting change. It is hard to know, though, whether the change he is speaking of now is any different from the change he spoke of before and during the obstruction and before and during the failure to report new child abuse allegations as required by law. All of this undermines Cockrell\u2019s assurances that the ABWE has changed, and that the organization now has sound child protection policies.\u00a0While I can\u2019t speak for Ketcham\u2019s victims, it seems to me that Cockrell would do well to\u00a0admit that the ABWE\u2019s\u00a0problems with reporting and covering up abuse continued throughout the investigation period and accept responsibility for that.<\/p>\n And now my second point.\u00a0I truly wish Zylstra, the Christianity Today article author, and been able to draw some of the above\u00a0questions out in her article. The piece\u00a0would have been much tighter and more interesting if the complexities at play in the current leadership hadn\u2019t been so brushed over. I worry that there is too much willingness, in evangelical circles, to accept promises<\/em> of change as evidence<\/em> of change. There is a willingness to be entirely too uncritical when addressing solutions to systemic problems that have beset Christian organizations. To me, Zylstra\u2019s article feels like a missed opportunity.<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n After writing the above, I found several additional bits to highlight.\u00a0The first deals with the child protection policies<\/a> ABWE created during the period when they were under investigation. This is\u00a0from the Pii report, pages 132-133:<\/p>\n January, 2012: ABWE INTERIM PROTOCOL FOR CHILD PROTECTION INVESTIGATIONS, Effective January 2012, states, \u201cFor allegations leveled against an ABWE MK or ABWE missionary, if the evidence has reached a level of reasonable belief it occurred, the Child Safety Team will turn over the investigation to an independent Fact Finding Investigative Team (presently headed by Rob Showers, at Simms Showers LLP) \u2026 to investigate the claims. \u2026 The ABWE Child Safety Team will make decisions about reporting allegations to the proper authorities\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n NOTE: These procedures may be in violation of the Pennsylvania abuse reporting statute, The Pennsylvania Code, Subchapter E, Section 21.502, quoted below. Pii recommends that ABWE undertake a thorough review of its Child Protection Policies to determine their compliance with relevant law.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n It appears that ABWE has since updated their policy once again<\/a>, but their continued insistence during the period they were under investigation on conducting their own investigations of child abuse allegations before (and in some cases, presumably, instead of) reporting the allegations to the authorities is\u00a0concerning\u2014and as Pii suggests, out of step with state law.<\/p>\n Does Zylstra mention this in her Christianity Today article? No she does not. She had a perfect opportunity to push Cockrrel on the subject of\u00a0ABWE\u2019s 2012 and 2013 woefully inadequate child abuse policies and reporting systems, as outlined in Pii\u2019s report, and to ask what evidence or assurances Cockrrel could offer\u00a0that things will actually be different going forward, but she did not do so.<\/p>\n\n
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