Bethany Christian Services is supposed to be about family preservation, child protection, and trauma-informed care.
But what happens when the very people claiming to protect families turn their power against the ones trying to tell the truth?
Clutch Justice has confirmed that staff at Bethany Christian Services attempted to use one of our articles as evidence against a family involved in their system, a clear act of retaliation after the family spoke out publicly about their experience.
Their “evidence”? A Clutch article covering systemic family court failures that didn’t use staff or full family names. The article simply drew attention to misconduct, neglect, and misaligned priorities in Michigan’s child welfare and adoption industry.
Apparently, that was enough to trigger Bethany staff into launching a smear effort against the very people they’re supposed to serve.
Misusing Media to Punish Accountability
Let’s be clear: using a media outlet’s independent reporting as a weapon against a family because that family dared to speak out is a gross abuse of institutional power. It’s the kind of behavior that chills whistleblowing, silences survivors, and reinforces exactly the kind of dysfunction that Clutch exists to expose.
Rather than engage in good-faith reform, Bethany staff chose to retaliate. They thought that by pointing to our journalism, they could discredit a hurting family and protect their own image.
And while the Cass County Judge didn’t call out those issues specifically, they did say that the article was not something that could be held against the family in their court.
This isn’t even the first time the agency has engaged in misdirection and retaliation; across multiple cases, Bethany has refused to speak up for children in abusive situations, and taken retaliatory action, such as calling the police on families already traumatized by police and courts.
What’s even more disturbing than Bethany’s behavior and attempts to silence independent media, is who they chose to protect instead.
Follow the Money
Bethany Christian Services has a lot to lose if their abusive tactics get out.
But the trouble is they’ve already been highlighted for significant misconduct across multiple cases:
- Failing to disclose histories of sexual abuse
- Stealing migrant children from their families and suspected child trafficking
- Lying and coercion
Disturbing Priorities: Defending a Mother Suspected of Abuse
Instead of standing with a family trying to protect a vulnerable child, Bethany staff appear to be throwing their support behind a mother with a long history of red flags including suspected abuse.
Staff has “lost” records that could have helped a family get to reunification sooner, but intentionally sided with the abuser.
The case originated in Allegan, passing hands through Judges Kengis and Antkoviak, before landing in Cass County.
Clutch has obtained journal entries written by this mother, entries that are deeply troubling, filled with spiritualized delusions, sexualized language, and references to destructive forces. The writing is disturbing not only for its content but for what it suggests about the mental state of the author and the emotional climate surrounding the child involved.
“Opens oneself to destructive forces…”
“Spiritual danger… willingly bind themselves to powers of destruction…”
“Lucifer will have the ability to ‘make our cum heal the world’…”
“Go forth and fuck each other – congregate – come (cum) together.”
These are the exact words pulled from the mother’s handwritten notebooks, now in clutch’s possession.
It appears to be about a song by Ghost, but seems incredibly off.
And this is the person Bethany Christian Services would rather stand behind?
When “Christian” Services Forget the Basics of Protection
We need to ask: what exactly is Bethany Christian Services protecting?
Because it doesn’t appear to be children.
It doesn’t appear to be truth-telling families.
It doesn’t appear to be the principles of safety, advocacy, or healing.
Instead, Bethany staff are behaving like a corporate shield for individuals with deeply questionable behavior while attempting to punish the people who bring it to light.
Let this be a warning to all systems that mistake silence for safety:
You cannot threaten your way out of accountability.
Clutch Justice will continue to publish what oppressive institutions of power want buried. We stand with families. We stand with truth-tellers.
And we will not be used as a weapon by institutions who’d rather protect abusers than protect children.
Have a tip? Send it to clutch.
