FLDS Children Disappearing - How the FLDS Church is helping children "Runaway"

[@wendytravis6427]

This is horrific. It really spot lights how teaching or brainwashing children from a young age can really determine their reality and their concept of right from wrong. I can’t imagine what the mothers are going through.

[@lorrainejessop7332]

Thank you for helping bring awareness 💔. This is accurate. It is child trafficking. Amazing the mental manipulation still being overcome even by the parents. The sad thing is that these kids are going through so much trauma, they are going to have a long healing process after they are recovered. They’re being scarred for life 😢

[@waynehamberg9248]

You are anti-polygamy and you have a biased perspective. I am not in favor of polygamy but what is said here isn't exactly being truthful. Many of the children want to be with their fathers and if they are deciding to be with their fathers then that is abduction or being coerced. If the children were raised that way then the men were once children so they were raised that way as well. You cannot blame this strictly on the men because when a man was stripped of their wives then those wives went to other men and gave themselves freely. What you are agreeing with is that it's OK for the women to take and run with the children which goes against Biblical teaching that children must honor both parents. Warren Jeffs was a scumbag but you can blame this on the Jeffs and the men because women participated equally. You can't attack this problem in this way because all of the individuals here have been indoctrinated and children have choose a parent. Warren Jeffs deserves to be in prison for life but those of his followers were at his mercies and you cannot punish a parent for being male.

[@lorrainejessop7332]

@@waynehamberg9248 my kids were kidnapped by flds in the middle of the night. The father is deceased and they have no other legal guardian besides myself. They have been reported to be seen with the flds. Polygamy aside, there’s something awfully wrong happening beyond the pale of basic fundamentalist beliefs.

[@carolinereinhart5321]

This is a horrible, horrible situation. My heart breaks for the parents who just want their children and the children who just don’t understand what’s happening to them. 😞

[@lalasvlog1591]

That "church" has the blood of my father on their hands. They drove him to suicide! Thank you guys for spreading awareness!

[@madasheck1617]

They did the same with my family, they killed my mother

[@villemokellin]

Thank you for sharing this video. I hope the kids are safe and will be home soon.

[@janeadams5207]

I am so sorry to hear this is happening.

[@toniatewell3586]

Sam & Melissa, Again thank you for bringing awareness. Your followers can share & continue to bring awareness far & wide. We are getting calls all over the U.S. I’m hopeful we will find these children ❤

[@elizabethgrogan8553]

This is heartbreaking. How can people claim to be religious, when committing such vile crimes. I would take in a mother who's been outlawed from this cult. I would help her to find her children by bringing in private investigators if necessary. We all have a duty to protect children, even if we're not related.

[@GaliSinatra]

Important work you are doing!

[@shannonwelsh5830]

This is just heartbreaking...

[@nnacroon7356]

Thanks for covering such hard topics ❤

[@jennyschmoll1374]

Love your videos!

[@thecreativecountrycrafter]

Heart breaking!

[@marielle5879]

Thank you so much for listening! Posting to Facebook now. ❤

[@janetmcdonald2572]

Hillsong, Scientology, XIVM, Catholic Church, JW, FLDS, Mormon and on & on, is there any religion that does not use, abuse, control & destroy lives?

[@anthonynettleton8346]

Wow I am lds mormon and some of my friends are connected and atrend hillsong London we are not cults do I agree with all doctrine no but not like flds

[@NancyCronk]

Question for Holding Out Help volunteers: do the mothers know to contact the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children?

[@toniatewell3586]

Yes they do! And some are on it.

[@keithb6717]

Do they know how to use a telephone?

[@toniatewell3586]

@@keithb6717 yes they do Great questions. Most of these have left the FLDS religion and are navigating mainstream society well

[@janefreeman995]

So warren Jeffs can still run child sex trafficing from jail? That makes zero sense.

[@tanyagarcia3721]

I'm glad you both are putting a light on that cult and exposing that for what that is in a lot of ways in the space of time that video is

[@shewearsfunnyhat]

Running away sounds like a cover story for human trafficking.

[@dog1783]

It literally is and that is what the video is about :)

[@susanmoran692]

This is terrible I feel for those parents of the children who ran away as well as the children who are brainwashed to go back😢😢😢. Sam do you know anyone yourself that this has happened too. That you would have known while you were a part of the FLDS?? If the parents outside of the FLDS have custody and the children are under 18 why can’t they use there phones as to track them and get them back? Sounds odd for them to say they can’t…

[@merricat3025]

This is sick.

[@madasheck1617]

Those kids are in McNeal Arizona at double adobe rv park and shotgun sports,

[@amylovegrove817]

Just sickening 😢

[@sarahkokura6349]

Have you watched keep sweet, obey and pray. So I totally believe that they are being taken. Because the documentary talked about how this would happen. Taken to Zion and basically groomed. It’s horrific.

[@carriedream101]

Yeah they watched it and have videos about it

[@toniatewell3586]

It’s a great documentary for people understand this culture better. It’s important to remember most of the followers are kind, sincere, God fearing people. It’s the system they are under that is damaging

[@christinecrowley7132]

Someone needs to take WF phone privilege.

[@christinecrowley7132]

WJ

[@shirlzitting647]

Or WTF

[@thuggie1]

This sort of thing really angers me

[@mariekatherine5238]

If all these kids are “running away,” there must be a reason!

[@Faesharlyn]

They're being kidnapped and sold to husbands who raise them to be incubators to make babies they can sell.

[@starrcrossreardon]

If you are a fan of what the Bible says or means in it's original language, you might like to know that in the Ten Statements (or Commandments) the one that we read as "Thou Shalt Not Steal" the word 'steal' actually refers to a person... so "no kidnapping" is a closer interpretation and certainly timely to our topic today.

[@CJMGalaxy]

You think it would not need to be said. The idea that people need the Bible to tell them not to kidnap people is frankly terrifying to me.

[@mollytaylor2122]

Sam's own mother and third mother have kids in this teenage-ish age range, right? Are they ok? Are the siblings ok?

[@GrowingUpinPolygamy]

Hi Molly, Sam here. I wish we could find out more about my siblings but am unable to reach out. I feel my only option is to spread awareness and hope that they are ok and safe.

[@dog1783]

@@GrowingUpinPolygamythat’s so tough. Thank you for spreading awareness and doing what you can.

[@asugirlgonenerdy]

Friendly neighborhood mental health nurse again, with questions about how these kiddos are helped and cared for when they’re brought out of these polygamist groups: 1) Do they have access to pediatric mental health/trauma care services upon being returned to their parent outside of polygamy? 2) Are there de-programmers who help these kids understand the pathology of their upbringing and help them understand that their parent on the outside is *not* evil or trying to harm them? 3) Do the parents on the outside have access to any family therapy services/social services to help them with their children’s transition out of polygamy? (And their own mental health-these parents who have left have gone through hell themselves and deserve care, too) Just curious about these. I always think about the trauma that these kids (and parents) have endured, and wonder about accessibility of these services for people who have left. Here in MN, we see a lot of PTSD in people who have immigrated to the US to escape their own horrific trauma, and I’ve seen how much it can help for people to have the opportunity to have their experiences validated and receive appropriate care. Hoping that each of these families find safety and healing.❤

[@gladysw1528]

I’m a mom who got some of my children out, I think those things you mentioned would be helpful.

[@toniatewell3586]

Yes, Holding Out HELP offers all those services. It takes a lot of patience & time for these children to realize their parents are not evil & love them. Great questions!

[@toniatewell3586]

@@gladysw1528 and you are brave & loved my friend 😘

[@amandan943]

Except for the wives that were impregnated by the “special” men in the group. (Horrific)

[@shirlzitting647]

The Special Olympics are better.

[@madasheck1617]

Some of those missing kids were in Sahuarita Arizona, neil Johnson flds property, Benson Arizona quarterhorse rv park and they switch them to different homes every 3 days!

[@janesmith9024]

That is the issue - consent and it is also the problem for parents who have adult children in cults - the person in the group wants to be in it and as long as the law is not broken they have that free choice, particularly even with mid teens as they tend to have some rights in most countries. At what age someone should be able to consent is never easy. Here in the UK at 13 you can consent to how your personal data (information about you) is processed. Age 16 is the age for relations (and marriage in Scotland) etc etc. Same with consent to blood transfusions for JW teenagers - the court has to work out if they are making an informed consent based on religious belief whereas a 5 year old of course is not going to be asked. If a religion - let us take say ultra orthodox jews - is what the child believes in and they are about 13 + I am not so sure a UK court would take them away to the parent who is no longer religious because the religion obeys the law. The FLDS' problem is they have done really illegal things - like under age marriage, child labour, and psychologically very damaging tihngs they rarely used to do - like moving children away from both birth parents. If they had just stuck to obeying most of the laws and supporting family values they would not have all these problems.

[@waynehamberg9248]

The LDS Church is just as much of a cult as the FLDS Church. Children do the exact same thing in the LDS Church because if a father goes inactive, the LDS Church does everything it can to alienate from that inactive parent. If a child wishes to go the way you don't like you are going to object but if a parent want to live in the FLDS life style you are going to object. I oppose the FLDS lifestyle and thing Warren Jeffs deserves worse than life in prison but the children are not running away from a lifestyle but running back to stability. You see the same thing outside of any religious community will a child will live with the parent that meets their social and lifestyle desires. This is an anti-FLDS/LDS video not a video intended to protect the children.

[@jessgunn6639]

when i hear about cults talking about "gathering" their congregation, i total freak!

[@innocentuntilprovenguilty217]

What about in Tennessee?

[@shirlzitting647]

FLDS abstinence is good. Anyone else invited to the coronation?

[@debcevans]

This reminds me so much of how the socialists/communists preach the need for the abolition of the family which is to result in the greater good of the society (faith).

[@monabale8263]

stockholm syndrome.

[@ivanaxel4098]

Ex cult members?