I was there 69-71. And I thought it was bad then! I dont understand how the heck all the mind control and coercement was allowed to continue. It just makes me mad to hear kids who have no choice being subjected to that STILL. I am SO sad to hear about women who cannot locate thier children. It is not fair Roloff was given so much power over others.
I'm still angry with Roloff (knew him well) for his need to control others completely. Once, when the quartet was on the Phil Donahue show live in Chicago, a caller called us 'Roloff Robots'. Of course then I defended him, but think it's funny (and true) as hell now.
Roloff used me as an example of girls who had no family to foot the bill, yet out of 'love' he took me in anyway. Love, hell! He made TONS of money off the girls he took with him, and I know I brought in my share. I'm one of the truly lucky ones, who got to travel and all...and I'm still hurt and angry so I can only imagine how most of survivors of that place feel. There were literally dozens of families who wanted to take me in, but when I turned 18 Lester refused to give me any contact information at all, so I left to make life on my own. Can you imagine walking out of 3 years of Rebekah to the real world and being expected to survive??! It was crazy. And when I called them to get advise and stuff they told me not to 'bother' them any more. I was left to find a job, apartment, open a bank account, and learn to fit into society with NO guidance. Needless to say I made my share of naive mistakes and wonder how I stayed off the streets and out of jail.
That was NOT love. God does not leave and forsake us. (Not to mention they all knew my family had done exactly the same thing). There was a hell of a lot of emotional cruelty there. Roloff on the other hand had his own agenda as well as the people who worked for him. It took 35 years and a whole lot of pain, mistakes and self-loathing to figure out how to stand up for myself and develop some solid self-esteem.
There are some good things that came out of the homes, but they fell far short of the picture they want to portray. Teaching closed-minded intolerance is just WRONG!
So that is my 2cents