Final Report in Mission Group’s Child Abuse Investigation Released
Survivors of abuse associated with New Tribes Mission, now Ethnos360, will be offered ‘follow-up care.’
As promised, the final report about the investigation of sexual abuse allegations against New Tribes Mission (NTM), now Ethnos360, spanning decades was released on November 1.
In July, the Independent Historical Allegations Review Team (IHART) Coordinator Theresa Sidebotham said the investigation interviews were complete, and she expected her team to produce a final report by the end of the year.
The most recent portion of the 12-year-long historical abuse investigation started in 2021 and is the last step of examining allegations against NTM anywhere in the world, whereas previous investigations were defined by geographical area.
According to the report, IHART investigated over 130 cases of alleged abuse of [missionary kids] and students” in Colombia, Indonesia, Mexico, the Philippines, Thailand, the United States, Venezuela, and West Brazil from the 1950s to 2004, with one case in 2009.
The overall findings showed some serial offenders against multiple victims. Because of the historical nature of this investigation, spanning decades, it “had an unusually high number of witnesses who were unwilling or unable to interview, and thus the corroboration rate was much lower than usual.”
Sidebotham elaborated on the lack of participation to MinistryWatch via email: “Many MKs chose not to participate in this investigation. Their reasons are their own, but we found that some had resolved their childhood memories and traumas with the adults or other minors involved. Others simply chose to not re-open those doors. Others had no confidence in the process, or possibly in Ethnos360/NTM, so declined to be a part of the investigation.”
Although names were withheld from the public report, IHART sent individual statements to individuals who brought allegations and to those accused, Sidebotham explained.
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In the 1960s and 1970s at the Puraquequara school in West Brazil, two staff members were found to have administered abusive “whippings” of missionary kids that left severe bruises. In Venezuela, a groundskeeper who worked for NTM in Tamatama engaged in sexual misconduct with two teen girls. The report noted that he was dismissed after the conduct was discovered in 1992.
A dorm father in Aritao, Philippines, was one of the more notorious offenders in the report. IHART found “overwhelming evidence” to substantiate claims that while employed from 1986-1993, he sexually abused at least 12 minor females and one minor male.
Dave Richardson with the Ethnos Truth Project, a group of survivors and supporters who run an online forum about the scandal, criticized the final report, saying it had “many obvious flaws, including the fact that this latest ‘report’ is mostly another copy and paste ‘fluff’ piece with little substance and essentially nothing actionable, with no names provided.”
He also questioned why the investigation process has taken 12 years since it began in 2011 and what he called “a lack of transparency regarding the money spent on ‘investigations’ and also ‘confidential settlements’ over the years.”
“As we approach 2024, Ethnos360 is thankful for the progress of the IHART Team in investigating the historical allegations of abuse in our past, though we regret that the process has been more complex, more cumbersome, and much lengthier than was originally envisioned,” read an open statement from Ethnos360 included in the report.
Now that the investigations are concluded, Sidebotham said Ethnos360 will communicate “about follow-up care” with all the victims since the investigations began. While details are still forthcoming, it will include an option for victims to receive a trauma evaluation regarding their experiences with a qualified evaluator of their choosing. Information about this will be posted by Ethnos360 and on the IHART reports page.
Main photo: Photo of the first New Tribes Mission (now Ethnos360) Bolivia Missionaries / Photo from World Historical Investigation Summary Report
