Christian Social Services: Taking Federal Funds to Replenish the Ranks of the Faithful

(This was originally part of a too-long “On the Road to Emmaeus” post, below. Its charts are valuable, and I’m basically splitting that post so the visuals are closer to the top of the page.)

(These are some the charts, figures, and stats on Bethany Christian Services; see last post. It should be viewed as one in a series of posts and is not stand-alone, except as an alert to the size and scope of federal funding of conservative evangelical organizations with documented “bad attitudes” towards women. As these same very well organized and networked organizations are focusing increasingly on adoption, and in our current political climate, I worry about both the safety and the values of the adopted infants, and what this says to our country’s own value system.)

For “chart” purposes, understand that a DUNS# is an identifier required for anyone doing business with government. An EIN#, however, relates to the IRS and tax status. The chart below comes from a search on NAMES (on the HHS database TAGGS), and doesn’t show EIN#s. I don’t believe one can produce a search RESULT showing EIN#s on this database, although you can search by them — at the elementary level only. Probably if they added this field as a results on their “Advanced Search” page, the game would be up on grants to fake corporations…

Already in the example below, I see some anomalies in a single healthy marriage grant…

 

 

Recipient Name	City	State	ZIP Code	County	DUNS Number	Sum of Awards……..
BETHANY CHRISTIAN SERVICES	GRAND RAPIDS	MI	49501-0294	KENT	080350796	$20,341,146
BETHANY CHRISTIAN SERVICES	GRAND RAPIDS	MI	49501-0294	KENT	609890876	$ 500,000
BETHANY CHRISTIAN SERVICES	GRAND RAPIDS	MI	49501-0294	KENT	784751778	$2,099,988
BETHANY CHRISTIAN SERVICES OF GEORGIA	ATLANTA	GA	30328-1606	FULTON	784751778	$1,000,000
BETHANY CHRISTIAN SERVICES OF VA	FAIRFAX	VA	22030-2522	**FAIRFAX	609890876	$997,454
Bethany Christian Services of Northwest Iowa	ORANGE CITY	IA	51041-1715	SIOUX	859378937	$1,770,994

Only ONE Bethany Christian Services is listed by the IRS as tax-exempt, and its EIN# is: 381524282 [SHOWN BELOW BY AN IRS EXEMPT ORGANIZATION SEARCH, pale-blue background). This is a GROUP tax exemption, i.e., acknowledges there are affiliates.

After running some charts (below) I finally took the largest recipient of HHS grants — in maroon above (DUNS# 080350796 and went over to USASPENDING.gov, plugged it in, and found not $20,341 million, but just over half that amount (All of it grants), $11,564,781. If one subtracts the about $20K+ given not from HHS but from another federal agency, (Corporation for National and Community Services/CNCS) to Bethany Christian Services, for inspiring volunteers to get involved in helping with poverty in their community. (only 3 grants, from 2010, 2011, and 2012) — I’m wondering what’s up. Why would one source show $9 million or so less than the other? Is it a matter of which years were covered?

What’s also kinda funny — a lot of these were TANF diversions (i.e., taking money AWAY from Aid to the families and diverting it to marriage promotion, as enabled by welfare reform. Previously, it’d have gone to the needy families themselves. Note: Welfare reform also included expanding the roles of who qualifies for services, i.e., it’s not just low-income fathers who can utilize the services…

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All of them were identified with the Grand Rapids PO Box of this organization… although in clicking on some of the grants, in the detail, I saw it listed under a different DUNS#.

A search of TAGGS on that EIN# brings up only Grand Rapids, Michigan ones, not the others. You’ll notice one DUNS# is shared between Georgia & Michigan (784751778). The street address (google lookup) of “Bethany Christian Services of Gerogia” leads also to another program, “Safe Families For Children” which tries to preserve families undergoing various problems (see link), INCLUDING where the mother is being abused, focusing on very young children. They network with local churches — the very institutions that are many times covering up abuse and already seem to value “family and marriage” over safety and personal integrity. This is a safety issue, as pastors are mandated reporters, and Safe Families For Children absolutely links with churches, and this particular network is a conservative one.

Look at the detail below:
The grant to the Georgia institution is a Healthy Marriages Grant (# 90FE0057, under CFDA 93086), and shows two identical payments under that grant (see below). While $1K shows up on this summary above, $5K X 5K= $2.5 million, not $1 million.

Moreover, at the “Bethany Christian Services for Georgia” street address (vs. PO Box address, which as it turns out, refers to a Michigan address) is also the program, Safe Families For Children, which is a program whereby churches attempt to forestall family breakup by child welfare where there has been otherwise causes Child Protection Services/Department of Family & Children’s Services (DFCS) might step in. (It should also be noted here that Georgia’s reputation for corrupt DFCS was under proceess of exposure by the late Senator from Georgia, Nancy Schaefer, who died with her husband during this investigation in March, 2010 in a sudden “murder/suicide” (which several people close to the family have challenged openly as, probably not a legitimate naming of the cause of death. Good Writeup (based on Open Records Requests) shows many discrepancies: like: lack of legitimate motive, missing murder weapon, timing (and no handwriting analysis) suicide notes, etc. It also notes that Atlanta is known as one of the larger sex-trafficking of children sites in the country.

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People can also donate: “Safe Families for Children Alliance has partnered with Network for Good to securely process your online credit card donation via the Network for Good Donor Advised Fund (tax ID 68-0480736). This transaction will appear on your credit card statement as “Network for Good.” That’s a HUGE operation, internet based, and another story, including who are its founders, and how vast the assets.)

Question: why would one grant be bouncing from one address, and one DUNS#, to another?

FYr	Grantee Name	//Grantee Address	Award Number	BYr	Issued	Award Class /Action Type	Principal Investigator	DUNS #	Sum of Actions
2010	BETHANY CHRISTIAN SERVICES OF GEORGIA	6645 PEACH TREE DUNWOODY RD, NE Atlanta, GA	90FE0057	5	09/24/2010	DISCRETIONARY NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	NONYEM NWABUOKU-DRAYTON	784751778	$ 500,000
2009	BETHANY CHRISTIAN SERVICES	P.O. BOX 294 Grand Rapids Michigan	90FE0057	4	09/17/2009	DISCRETIONARY NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	PATRICIA SMALL	784751778	$ 500,000
2008	BETHANY CHRISTIAN SERVICES	P.O. BOX 294	90FE0057	3	09/17/2008	DISCRETIONARY NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	PATRICIA SMALL	080350796	$ 500,000
2007	BETHANY CHRISTIAN SERVICES	P.O. BOX 294	90FE0057	2	09/17/2007	DISCRETIONARY NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	PATRICIA SMALL	080350796	$ 500,000
2006	BETHANY CHRISTIAN SERVICES OF GEORGIA	6645 PEACH TREE DUNWOODY RD, NE	90FE0057	1	09/25/2006	DISCRETIONARY NEW	PATRICIA SMALL	784751778	$ 500,000

This took me a while to understand (See chart).
For a single Healthy Marriage Grant — this one —

2006: it starts out in Georgia under DUNS 784751778, Patricia Small.
2007/08: It then for two years was allocated to MICHIGAN under a PO Box (NB: tax returns for Michigan BCS is show street address, not a PO Box), under the same “Patricia Small” but changes DUNS# which is an identifier.. Either they web-conference, she moved, or ……(blue-background rows).
2009: Back to GEORGIA, still under Patricia Small but change the DUNS# back to the original.
2010: A new person is brought on board at the Georgia address (I did look her up, she is associated).

I went to USA Spending and keyed in DUNS#784751778 — and found it associated with FOUR grants (ALL of them, the source of the money was TANF) totaling $2.6 million dollars Just about — short by only $8.00 — BUTttttttt referring to two DIFFERENT grants: 90FM0011 and 90FE0057. Why would they be labeled so strangely? These also showed that the fourth grant was addressed to “Bethany Christian Services of Georgia” (90FE0057). You can do this yourself. On the main chart (top of page) we see this number is associated with not $500K, but with $1,000,000 in Georgia. This is not atypical for HHS vs. Usaspending.gov.

DUNS-Switching with VIRGINIA – MICHIGAN

(within ONE grant award):

A similar thing was done with ANOTHER Healthy Marriage Grant obtained by Bethany Christian services, during the same time period: This one started out in Virginia, then moved to Michigan, under “Constance Barry” and some more DUNS# switcheroos: Look at the chart and see which changes when: State, Investigator, or DUNS#: These are all Discretionary, and after first year, all “Non-Competing Continuation.” For convenience, I omitted the grantee name (shown in main chart, above). Essentially (+/- a few bucks) this is a $2.5 million, five-year grant:

FYr	State	Award #	BYr	Issued	Principal Investigator	DUNS #	Sum of Actions
2010	VA	90FE0098	5	09/24/2010	MARY BETH BOVA	609890876	$ 500,000
2009	MI	90FE0098	4	08/21/2009	MARY BETH BOVA	609890876	$ 500,000
2008	MI	90FE0098	3	09/26/2008	CONSTANCE BARRY	080350796	$ 499,980
2007	MI	90FE0098	2	09/21/2007	CONSTANCE BARRY	080350796	$ 454,932
2006	VA	90FE0098	1	09/24/2006	CONSTANCE BARRY	609890876	$ 497,454

This time we start in Virginia with Constance Barry, DUNS #609890876, and next year move to Michigan, and change to the DUNS#080350796 (also used in GEORGIA), and under which the main (Bethany Christian Services out of Grand Rapids, Michigan) is getting the most grants, i.e., $20 million of grants (see top chart on this page, which sorts them BY DUNS#). As you can see, putting a single state with a single DUNS# is misleading…
In 2007 * 2008, AND 2009 (as with the other series), it’s back in Michigan, except in 2009 switches to a n ew Principal Investigator, Mary Beth Nova, BUT back to the DUNS# used in Virginia originally. Going nuts yet? This is typical in the fatherhood grants (I DNK about all the others under HHS….).

A USASPENDING.gov on
DUNS #609890876 shows only TWO grant awards, identical in size, both sourced from TANF. 2009 & 2010, the second one being from the Virigina Address, and totalling a cool million. As we can see, the Virginia address above shows $3,546 short of $1 million. This would drive someone crazy “in a New York minute” however, I noticed that in 2006/609890876 per HHS (NOT per USASpending.gov) the amount shown is short, by $3,546 of an even $500K.

Basically, this appears to be a “shell game” in “Can you Identify the Funding and Locate where it went?”.
It may be why the US GAO had a problem giving an unqualified audit to the United States of America, and mentinoed HHS as a problem agency, SPECIFICALLY as to its grants….

SHELL GAMES WITH BETHANY CHRISTIAN SERVICES OF NORTHWEST IOWA

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Taggs.HHS SAYS IT GOT THIS MANY GRNTS. THAT’S JUST SHORT OF $600K X 3 (2007, 2008 & 2009):

Recipient Name City State ZIP Code County DUNS Number Sum of Awards
Bethany Christian Services of Northwest Iowa 
ORANGE CITY  IA  51041-1715  SIOUX  859378937  $ 1,770,994 

The Vissers seem to own property nearby, for what it’s worth: 213 4th Street NE, Orange City (from 2006-2009) (Sioux County Assessor; just a name search brought this up). BCS of NW Iowa is at 123 Albany Avenue SE in the same city. Google Maps isn’t letting me save the link (DNK why), but if you type in directions from one to the other, and go to “maps” (Satellite) you can see it’s about a half mile away, AND that the BCS address (123 Albany Avenue SE is at it would seem the exact) same corner [Location?] as Harvest Community Church (which is 209 1st Street NE) and which holds to the Calvinist/Westminster/Reformed doctrines associated with Bethany Christian Services. This church was founded in part in 1938 by at least one Princeton professor who broke off from the more liberal Presbyterian Church (NB: BCS began only six years later).

[[Then again, there are about three more reformed churches within walking distance: this is Iowa….))

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We believe the Bible is the written word of God, inspired by the Holy Spirit and without error in the original manuscripts. The Bible is the revelation of God’s truth and is infallible and authoritative in all matters of faith and practice.
We believe in the Holy Trinity. There is one God, who exists eternally in three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We believe that all are sinners and totally unable to save themselves from God’s displeasure, except by His mercy. We believe that salvation is by God alone, that He sovereignly chooses to save, only from His free grace, never for any human individual merit, or foreseen faith. We believe that Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God, who through His perfect life and sacrificial death atoned, alone, for the sins of all who trust in Him. We believe that God is gracious and faithful to His people not simply as individuals but as families in successive generations according to His covenant promises.
We believe that the Holy Spirit indwells God’s people and gives them the strength and wisdom to trust Christ and follow Him. We believe that Jesus will return, bodily and visibly, to judge all mankind and to receive His people to Himself. We believe that all aspects of our lives are to be lived to the glory of God under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

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Angela B. Kroeze Visser (year 2000) in Experimental Psychology Class at Dordt College [“FINDING YOUR PLACE IN GOD’S WORLD“)Christian Reformed, which comes from some Canons of Dort, Netherlands (see description)).

Not to get too theologically nitpicking, but to locate this in place, time and on a spectrum from rigid to liberal — DORDT would represent “very Calvinist” and (it says here) in direct rebuttal to “Jacob Arminius,” who supposedly led the Reformation off course. Yes, we are going back to the 1500s and 1600s, here. I might as well quote from “Arminius: The Scapegoat of Calvinism”

In 1603 Arminius moved to Leiden to become professor theology at the university. He was considered the greatest scholar of his day and taught until his death in 1609. He was the first ever to receive the Doctor of Divinity degree from the University of Leiden. Even at Leiden he was under attack from the Calvinist, Gomarus. Finally, Arminius asked for a public hearing, but he died before the synod convened. He was about 49 when he died, and his death was probably hastened by the stress he was under.

After his death, 42 of his followers wrote their manifesto, the Remonstrance, in 1610. In 1618-9 the Synod of Dort was convened and adopted a high Calvinistic statement which included the supralapsarian position of Beza (BEZA followed Calvin]. Although it was Arminius who had called for an open forum, there were 130 Calvinists present and 13 Remonstrants who were prisoners of the state and were given no vote. “The Remonstrants were at a disadvantage from the very start, and were summoned as defendants. They were denied seats in the council, and were treated throughout as accused parties.” (6) Simon Episcopius, the successor of Arminius, delivered a speech of two hour length, so logical and magnanimous that it moved many hearers to tears. (7) Yet the Synod of Dort condemned Arminianism as heretical and as a result some 200 Remonstrant ministers were ousted from their pulpits. Some were banished and persecuted until 1625. (8) Arminianism reintroduced the spirit of tolerance to the Church. The early Arminians were well educated and held strong convictions, but they displayed a different spirit. They had no animosity toward those who disagreed with them; they only asked that their views be permitted to exist

My point being, that when we are dealing with this particular nonprofit organization (and some of its articles of faith and incorporation are below), we are dealing with the more INtolerant sector, religiously. Hence it would be entirely in character to go for “Abstinence Education,” etc. …. DORDT refers to the Netherlands, and that synod. The college is right in Orange City.

Here’s another general writeup of Jacob Arminius, showing (if you read the details) that there was also some professional jealousy (he got a post someone else wanted), he couldn’t swallow predestination in its entirety, having more emphasis on the matter of faith.

Back to this grant’s Principal Investigator (all I really found is that she apparently lives here and attended Dordt Univ. for some psychology classes.

The Effects of Scent on Interpersonal Attraction — Angela B. Kroeze Visser [and Casey R. Green
Interpersonal attraction is a complex phenomenon that involves many variables including physical appearance, personality and situational and environmental factors.  The affect-evaluation model of attraction (Byrne, 1997) states that situational stimuli influence mood, which in turn impacts attraction toward a stranger.  It was hypothesized in this study that participants in a pleasant scent condition would rate videotaped confederates as more attractive than those in a no-scent condition, while those in an unpleasant scent condition would give the lowest ratings.  Scent influenced the mood of the participants, but had no effect on attraction ratings.  This suggests that the relationship among situation, mood, and attraction is complex and may be mediated by other factors such as cognition.

Award Number Title Budget Year Action Issue Date Award Action Type Principal Investigator Sum of Actions

90AE0206 COMMUNITY BASED ABSTINENCE EDUCATION  1  09/12/2007  NEW  KIMBERLY SCORZA  $ 600,000

90AE0206 COMMUNITY BASED ABSTINENCE EDUCATION  2  07/25/2008  NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION  ANGELA B KROEZE VISSER  $ 600,000

90AE0206 COMMUNITY BASED ABSTINENCE EDUCATION  3  08/21/2009  NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION  ANGELA B KROEZE VISSER  $ 570,994

For ONCE in its life, USA Spending EXACTLY matches when I search that DUNS# and shows the three grants of approximately $600K — for the same three years as TAGGS (2007, 2008 and 2009). The question does arise, why was year one $30,006 short of $600K? (it does make you wonder, why such “odd” numbers for an award….).

It would be nice if this group had been filing taxes that year, but it apparently wasn’t — unless under its Michigan Headquarters… Read on:

This result comes from searching what I understood to be an EIN# associated with BCS of Northwest Iowa: which shows up from another source (990finder, i.e., “The FOundation Center”) as 31142836.
Minor detail — the only tax returns showing for this organization ocurred in 2003, 2004, and 2005!

ORGANIZATION NAME STATE YEAR FORM PAGES TOTAL ASSETS EIN
Bethany Christian Services of Northwest Iowa** IA 2005 990 22 $463,601 31-1244836
Bethany Christian [services]of Northwest Iowa IA 2004 990 18 $463,714 31-1244836
Bethany Christian Services of Northwest Iowa IA 2003 990 12 $639,892 31-1244836

**click for sample tax return. At this time it’s simply “Child and Family Services” and doing adoptions.

However, if I type only the EIN# and not the NAME into the same database, we find that it has moved back to Michigan, alongside another EIN# for the same group:

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You tell me (I give up). How can a group which didn’t file taxes in 2007, 2008 & 2009, have received $1.7 million of direct grants from HHS for Abstinence Education?

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How many millions are flowing towards these outfits, and yet people who have come through the ranks of the faithful, and sometimes sought help, refuge, or reported abuse and violence to them, have often ended up excommunicated, marginalized, and financially devastated as these ranks supported the male heads of the family over the mothers of the children, time and again, based on religious beliefs. They also many times stall far beyond the safety limit how long a couple is together, and then take FAITH-BASED GRANTS as well to pick up the scattered children…

Sorry to continue hammering this home, but we have just had another major holiday in which many mothers, many of them from a religious tradition, through the family courts, have very likely had zero contact with their children. They can generally be found on-line blogging, as I was. Some of us have become numb and alienated (when not activist and reporting!!!) to the main institutions around which our society is structured — along with collaborating on ways to force them to either acknowledge the damages, change, or be dismantled. You might call it another exodus or diaspora. Identity shifts are involved, and while there is pain and loss involved, there also is empowerment in finding better understanding of where we stand in relationship to “how things are.”

I want it underestood that I am not accusing any agency or nonprofit discussed with improper operations or illegal activities (If some shows up, I’ll note it, but it doesn’t look like that). I am simply questioning their priorities AND ours, in failing to resist (harder) using public funds to allow certain groups to perform their ministries. Only in looking at the groups, their own statements (including in articles of incorporation on some tax returns) and their practices will this become clear.

I’m not claiming this organization doesn’t provide valuable services in adopting children, or that it doesn’t exhibits compassion. (Co-founder died shortly before 100th birthday in 2013)

Its origin was in 1944, obviously a time of many orphans resulting from WAR. However, now the same agency has chosen to accept welfare-reform related grants, which even the agency distributing them, not to mention the US GAO, has acknoweldged are not being monitored well (See “Anne Stevenson House WaysNMeans” 2012 link; it’s her letter requesting this grant system be stopped, and documenting (quoting government sources) what’s being done with it).

FAQs on “Bethany Christian Services,” its $23 million++ of HHS Grants

And, what’s it doing with them ….

The non-attending and non-religious ought to think hard about allowing their tax money, through “Health and Human Services” to federally fund evangelism-by-adoption-and-social-services out of Grand Rapids Michigan, in this particular case.

(see my comments on last post, underneath “eralyn’s” comments, including pulling up the various nonprofit incorporations that have filed with the IRS.)

In responding, for some reason I looked up funding to the California Judicial Council. Probably not a good idea, after from there I saw “ADOPTION OPPORTUNITIES,” expanded the search field, and got an eyeful. Given what some of us have experienced by virtue of being Christian, I tend to look when a grantee contains the word “Christian” in its title, as did Bethany Christian Services out of Grand Rapids Michigan.

However, just like abuse of kids and spouses — it still goes on Under Cover. So let me pull back the covers on at least one. Again, this is just an accidental find, when I looked up an “Adoption Opportunities” grant series (CFDA 93652) without typing in a year OR state, recovered from my initial shock, and then picked one to look at, out of the 371 NEW grants (over 1600, if “noncompeting continuation” etc. is counted). I would think it wise to know who, in my state, was organizing such things.

IRS SEARCH FOR THE TAX-EXEMPT CORPORATION shows only the NATIONAL ONE in Grand Rapids, MI is listed

IRS exempt Corporations Search (pick one category to search). SEARCH FIELDS PAGE (I’ve checked “eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions)

“BETHANY” is a common religious name (if I searched on ‘Bethany Christian Services” it would pull up every YMCA in the country….), so I got all 397 results, alphabetized them by corporation name, and scanned the list.

Bethany Christian Services and ONLY two others out of the list are listed as exemption style, “GROUP.” Some others were listed “SOUNK” (supporting organization). As we can see, most of them are simply churches. The top row is the group I’m talking about:

38-1405282 Bethany Christian Services Inc. Grand Rapids MI United States GROUP

56-2667726 Bethany Church Box Springs GA United States PC
83-0412916 Bethany Church Bloomington MN United States PC
90-0411296 Bethany Church Los Angeles CA United States PC
95-1799940 Bethany Church Sierra Madre CA United States PC
20-1787458 Bethany Church Historical Foundation Highland IL United States PC
30-0182854 Bethany Church Inc. Rushville IL United States PC
56-1534693 Bethany Church Inc. Weddington NC United States PC
20-2124815 Bethany Church Incorporated Bowie MD United States PC
31-1116947 Bethany Church of Christ Foster KY United States PC
34-1181291 Bethany Church of Christ Lima OH United States PC
31-6032477 Bethany Church of Christ of Kettering Ohio Kettering OH United States PC
25-6065234 Bethany Church of Faith Export PA United States PC
93-6088396 Bethany Church of Franklin Oregon Junction City OR United States PC
23-7047083 Bethany Church of God in Christ Los Angeles CA United States PC
36-4624211 Bethany Church of God in Christ Avondale AZ United States PC
03-0179405 Bethany Church of Randolph Vt Randolph VT United States PC
48-0543734 Bethany College Lindsborg KS United States PC
55-0356985 Bethany College Bethany WV United States PC
55-0743341 Bethany College Cnt Tweedy Fd Wilson NC United States PC
48-1114249 Bethany College Endownment Fund Lindsborg KS United States SOUNK
55-6024420 Bethany College West Virginia Centennial Endowment Fund Wilson NC United States SOUNK
43-1832385 Bethany Community Betterment Organization Bethany MO United States PC
55-0489428 Bethany Community Cemetery Association Bethany WV United States EO
27-5026523 Bethany Community Church Millsboro DE United States PC
95-3349616 Bethany Community Church Long Beach CA United States PC
86-0339938 Bethany Community Church Inc. Tempe AZ United States PC
33-0568191 Bethany Community Church of San Pedro San Pedro CA United States PC
33-0665652 Bethany Community Church San Diego Incorporated San Diego CA United States PC
56-1389671 Bethany Community Fire Department Incorporated Albemarle NC United States PC
73-1102781 Bethany Community <Foundation Bethany OK United States SOUNK
56-2144157 Bethany Community Middle School Inc. Reidsville NC United States PC

(etc.)
The right-hand column shows what kind of tax-exempt: PC, SOUNK or GROUP:

“GROUP Generally, a central organization holding a group exemption letter, whose subordinate units covered by the group exemption are also eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions, even though they are not separately listed.” How much is tax-deductible to such groups? “Depends on Various Factors” (the other two categoris — PC & “SOUNK” (supporting Organization) — one can deduct (write off) up to 50% of donations to such a group). You can see the “tax shelter of the wealthy” factor at play in charities, obviously….

ANOMALIES:
I just did the above study on HHS grants to “Bethany Christian Services” in several states, under different DUNS#, and a principal EIN# — and the EIN listed above as “GROUP” (which has, as of 2011, “Gross Receipts” of $34 million) is NOT a “Group Return,” but the Group Return (showing much lower ASSETS, about half that — but more than double the revenues ($76K)) is filed separately).

EIN# 3814205282

EIN# 32822017 (SAME street address). Note: NO Street Address of a PO Box is shown on either).

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What got my attention, when I saw “Adoption Services” and clicked on this name, there was $22 million of HHS grants. Looking at the grants, we can see the basic Marriage/Abstinence (plain and community-based), Relationship Education, plus helping victims of torture recover from trauma — plus things about (getting frozen embryos adopted out? You tell me??).

That one had all kinds of marriage-promotion grants, and my curiosity was off and running. So, let’s get right down to it, without all the intro about why I’m looking this up. It caught my attention, OK?

“BETHANY CHRISTIAN SERVICES” (a PO box in Kent Michigan) is in on this — and marriage education — AND abstinence education AND community-based Abstinence education — AND relationship education — AND a bunch of other stuff, like Healing for Survivors of Torture AND “embryo donation/adoption opportunities” (HUH?) — over $22 million of funds:

(FROM TAGGS.hhs.gov, where the HHS grants are searchable; to see the fuller scope, get on-line and look!)

 

 

Recipient Name	City	State	ZIP Code	County	DUNS Number	Sum of Awards
BETHANY CHRISTIAN SERVICES	GRAND RAPIDS	MI	49501-0294	KENT	080350796	$ 20,341,146
BETHANY CHRISTIAN SERVICES	GRAND RAPIDS	MI	49501-0294	KENT	609890876	$ 500,000
BETHANY CHRISTIAN SERVICES	GRAND RAPIDS	MI	49501-0294	KENT	784751778	$ 2,099,988
BETHANY CHRISTIAN SERVICES OF GEORGIA	ATLANTA	GA	30328-1606	FULTON	784751778	$ 1,000,000
BETHANY CHRISTIAN SERVICES OF VA	FAIRFAX	VA	22030-2522	**FAIRFAX	609890876	$ 997,454
Bethany Christian Services of Northwest Iowa	ORANGE CITY	IA	51041-1715	SIOUX	859378937	$ 1,770,994

For starters — the ones in “tan” color represent Healthy Marriage Demonstration Grants (close to $2.5 million) although certainly not the only Healthy Marriage ones, for Years, 2006 & 2010, plus one in 2009. One might want to know why one nonprofit in GRAND RAPIDS getting almost $23 million in grants — well, why IS it getting $23 million in grants, for one. For another, why does it need three different DUNS# for one location?

Really, a picture is worth a thousand words, particularly mine on this post, so I trust the curious will actually go to “TAGGS’ key in “recipient search” “Bethany Christian Services” (don’t specify year or state) and start clicking around. Search links aren’t saved.

Next — and this is what I saw — here’s a sample year (2008) of the types of grants the Grand Rapids one is getting. Only one grant below is from Iowa, all the others from Michigan. I picked specific fields — you can see under how many different CFDA’s and grant series, this ONE nonprofit (and it is ONE — Michigan is the National office) is getting grants. This only represents their grants in 2008 alone.

2008 HHS grants to THIS ORGANIZATION

Award #	Award Title	Budget Year	Issue Date	CFDA #	Award Class	Award Type	Principal Investigator	Sum of Actions
90AE0152	COMMUNITY BASED ABSTINENCE EDUCATION	2	05/16/2008	93010	DISCRETIONARY	SOCIAL SERVICES	KRISTINE FAASSE	$ 0
90AE0152	COMMUNITY BASED ABSTINENCE EDUCATION	3	08/08/2008	93010	DISCRETIONARY	SOCIAL SERVICES	KRISTINE FAASSE	$ 500,000
90AE0206 =IOWA	COMMUNITY BASED ABSTINENCE EDUCATION	2	07/25/2008	93010	DISCRETIONARY	SOCIAL SERVICES	ANGELA B KROEZE VISSER	$ 600,000
90CO1002	DEMONSTRATION PROJECT IN POST-ADOPTION MARRIAGE EDUCATION	5	09/12/2008	93652	DISCRETIONARY	DEMO	PATRICIA H SMALL	$ 300,000
90CO1020	DEVELOPING ADOPTION SERVICES F/YOUTH WHO WISH TO RETAIN CONTACT W/FAMILY MEMBERS	4	09/14/2008	93652	COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT	DEMO	DONA M ABBOTT	$ 300,000
90FE0057	HEALTHY MARRIAGE DEMONSTRATION, PRIORITY AREA, 7	3	09/17/2008	93086	DISCRETIONARY	DEMO	PATRICIA SMALL	$ 500,000
90FE0098	HEALTHY MARRIAGE DEMONSTRATION PRIORITY AREA 7	3	09/26/2008	93086	DISCRETIONARY	DEMO	CONSTANCE BARRY	$ 499,980
EAAPA 061004	2008 EMBRYO DONATION AND/OR ADOPTION PUBLIC AWARENESS CEDA PHASE IV***	3	09/12/2008	93007	DISCRETIONARY	HEALTH SERVICES	DEBRA PETERS	$ 499,577
EAAPA 941003	>CEDA (CRYOPRESERVED EMBRYO DONATION AND ADOPTION AWARNESS) PHASE III	4	07/17/2008	93007	DISCRETIONARY	HEALTH SERVICES	DEBRA PETERS	$ 328,100
SM058768	PROJECT RETURN HOME	01	08/29/2008	93243	COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT	HEALTH SERVICES	MARK PETERSON	$ 400,000

 

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Looking at this from another angle, I checked out just two categories of funding, knowing already that this is also a major adoption agency. I looked at ABSTINENCE EDUCATION and MARRIAGE/FATHERHOOD FUNDING. Putting this together with the ADOPTION INDUSTRY, and CONSERVATIVE CHRISTIANITY, we do have a belief system that is patriarchal, against divorce, evangelical, and in somc instances asserts it’s better for a mother to give up her baby to be adopted into a two-parent home, than to raise the same, herself; this also going for single mothers who separate…

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From 2006-now, in various states, they got 20 Healthy Marriage grants in several states, (millions) AND 8 abstinence education grants (in several states). ALL were “Discretionary” and once granted, appeared to be non-competing, continuation, and the smallest of them (most were $500K or over), one for $454K, another just under $500K). It’s not worth my time to paste this into the post, anyone can look it up and choose the field at bottom of page. CFDA’s 93010 and 93086 (drop-down list), select “Bethany Christian Services” and all years. I noted that Brian DeVos of Michigan was on year 2006 Abstinence Education. If you do this search, you will see!

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What that might mean at street level, if one is a divorcing because of abuse woman involved in one of these churches, or in the area — someone is funding the other side fo the custody battle through a church-affiliated (networked) organization taking federal money.

I looked up one of the investigators above: “Donna M. Abbott, Bethany Christian Services.”

For a partial scope of just how big IS it? (the Adoption Industry), check out the 56 pages of “MARE: There are 15 staff on this group — and thats’ just the Exchange. “Michigan Adoption Resource Exchange.” Public and Private agencies. From bottom of page 19 through top of page 24 are all Bethany Christian. (Ms. Abbott is program director for East Lansing) From mid-24 through page 29 is Catholic Services; in other words BCS is approaching CS in scope. (list is dated 3/14/2013, i.e., it’s current). People can search the database like searching for an animal, or a hat. Is that even wise? What kind of child do you want: Male, Female? Age? Siblings? Impairment Level (physical, mental, emotional, learning), how about Race options: Black, White, American Indiana/Alaskan Asian, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, Asian, “Other,” Hispanic, and [at the bottom of the options] Multi-Race. Interesting order of listings. I don’t know if it’s off the US Census; it sure isn’t alphabetical. Viewers can also browse the database (photos and summaries), Waiting Males, Waiting Females, Waiting Siblins. Again, the question comes up — why are so many children removed from their parents (one or both)? Why are so many parents deemed unfit to raise their kids — is there something seriously wrong with our country, that humane parent/child relationships just do not exist Perhaps it’s a trickle down effect on how people as ADULTS are being handled in our schools, institutions, and workplaces?? Or is it the “Nancy Schaefer” factor? Something is seriously wrong that this much “adoption” (i.e., child-removal) is needed in our country. WHY is their a virtual, and latent bounty on the head of the average American kid? As we know there’s also plenty of international adoption as well, however, if our country (USA) is so wonderful, then why can’t kids stay in the homes where they were born? Does this have to do with the school/work situation? I do know an attempt was made to get my kids into foster care when they were safely in MY care, in a solid home, school, and neighborhood even — but there was a noncustodial father with a child support arrears he wanted wiped out. When I didn’t opt to call in CPS to settle what was a straightforward LEGAL issue: Was the custody order going to be supported or violated — I was still naive enough to believe that some judge would look at the facts, and judge accordingly. I knew nothing about the grants system, federal funding, or welfare reform at the time.

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Let’s Talk About: Adopting Embryos?

You tell me — “Embryos for Adoption”???

Award Number: EAAPA061004 ***
Award Title: 2008 EMBRYO DONATION AND/OR ADOPTION PUBLIC AWARENESS CEDA PHASE IV 
OPDIV: DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES/OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY (DHHS/OS) 
Organization: OFFICE OF THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR PUBLIC HEALTH AND SCIENCE (ASH) 
Award Class: DISCRETIONARY 
$2.235 million, look it up!

Yep, 61 Awards to a number of organizations to spread awareness of embryo donations…. Geezh!

I just looked them up, and feel somewhat ill (searched by typing in the first 5 letters of the grant# only.
Including the Principal Investigators in the search field, I found out we (that’s, the USA) has a “National Embryo Center,” a “Christian Legal Services” (Ronald L. Stoddart, life begins at conception, probably don’t abort- adopt!) out of (where else — Colorado).

That is another post. In honor of it being APRIL 1st, I think the title is, “You’ve GOT to be Kidding!” But, to the tune of millions, I assure you, they are not.

Yes, our government is paying Christian organizations (personhood begins at conception) millions of dolllars in an Public Awareness Campaigns for “Cryo Embryo Donation Adoptions,” which is to say, when infertility is treated, resulting in some “extras” — Christian compassion (and family focused church membership) are all into it.

Anyhow….re: Bethany Christian Services’ phenomenal commitment to getting kids into good, Christian homes… Who are they? How many states are they operational in, and how many properly registered as a corporation to do business in? Just how much government money is supporting this, and what exactly are the religious beliefs of the group?

Would it be better for public (HHS) money to go into getting more kids adopted, and then pumping fatherhood and marriage promotion money in, or would that marriage and fatherhood money have been better spent with actual, literal, help to individuals before kids are snatched into foster care initially? And why is the government pouring public money into private adoption agencies?

How are these same religious groups treating women, in general, (especially single mothers), in their ranks — are they accepted, or rejected? Are they anti-contraception? How do these same groups deal with violence (as in, domestic violence or child abuse in their own ranks? And if not very well, then why are they being helped to adopt out babies, esp. privately?

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WHERE TO LOOK:

After locating a grantee, self-labeled “nonprofit” or 501(c)3 (and taking donations, one is interested in, it’s time to look, among other places– as a routine matter, at a few time-consuming, but relevant, things:

• Its IRS Tax-exempt Designation from the IRS site (Above, shows ONLY the main one is registered as OK to receive contributions. THis is significant when it gets HHS — but if one then goes to individual states and looks at the fililngs, those are NOT showing government grants. … They don’t have to. The grants are coming from the “mother ship” in Michigan. (I used that word just to be oppositional, as they are obviously emphasizing fatherhood…).

• Their EIN# filings (national) — for which states are they filing in. This shows a pattern.
  A tax return or so– this shows where money is coming from and going to, or it should, as well as who are the directors, and their highest paid employees, what are the programs they’re operating, and what kind of real estate, etc.

• State Corporation Filings (some states record better than others. California’s is lousy, other states give more detail. Some have begun to charge for the privilege of even looking, which is a crying shame…

• State Charitable Organization filings (in California, these show may interesting items)

• Articles of incorporation, if possible. I did. This is where it openly states that their purpose is evangelism, and no one gets on the board of directors without subscribing to the articles of faith. From what I can see of the first dozen or so board of directors listed, it’s primarily men (hardly surprising in this field, but it’s still a LITTLE rare among all the 990s I’ve looked at)….

• Some of its board members, street addresses, etc.

All those lookups are timeconsuming, a pain-in-the-ass, AND education. It builds an awareness of WTF is happening, at least on some levels. Particularly reading tax returns has been an eye-opener for me. Depending on one’s motivation level (and if a group is functioning, for example, in one’s own jurisdiction) — how about getting a hold of some of the government contracts.

(If some of my links (URLs) do not work, a link from a data search may have expired; or other times, it may have an extra “;” at the end of the URL; remove that “;” at the far-right (CTRL-rightArrow) of the address bar (top of screen), and try again.

Grand Rapids Michigan-based Federally Funded Evangelism shows in the Articles of Incorporation (re-stated);
This 24 pages should be read with care; obtained from California Charitable Organizations search, as it had to file as a foreign (i.e., Michigan-based) corporation to do business in California. California has three “Bethany Christian Services” corporations active — and from what I can tell, ALL of them are prospering (and filing properly); one of them is multi-million-dollar nonprofits.

This link is from one of THREE California-based “Bethany Christian Services”, only, but references the National Michigan not-for-profit. Here’s the state-level record. notice: one in 1981, and two more within a week of each other in 1990.

Entity Number	Date Filed	Status	Entity Name	Agent for Service of Process
C1088959	09/01/1981	ACTIVE	BETHANY CHRISTIAN SERVICES	JEFF CARLSON
C1672943	09/18/1990	ACTIVE	BETHANY CHRISTIAN SERVICES OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA	LYNETTE STIME
C1673535	09/26/1990	ACTIVE	BETHANY CHRISTIAN SERVICES OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA	JEFF CARLSON

The Corporate numbers also (minus the “C”) can be keyed into the charitable search field, another database; those results will appear in sky-blue and white charts, with the corporation name a hyperlink opening up into a larger table. I have many examples in various posts on the blog.

(The link will expire; search again “Bethany Christian Services” at California’s charitable organization registry, clicking on one of the three organization names, and looking at the documents listed underneath all the amounts received, click on “Founding Articles.”) I looked at the first one. Perhaps a glance at some of the assets may pique your interest:

Read Left to Right first (for chrono), notice progression of assets to Revenue $$ by year.

Fiscal Begin: 01-JAN-01 Fiscal End: 31-DEC-01 Total Assets: $33,782,166.00 Gross Annual Revenue: $42,550,866.00 RRF Received: 24-MAY-02 Returned Date: 13-JUL-02 990 Attached: Y Status: Accepted	Fiscal Begin: 01-JAN-02 Fiscal End: 31-DEC-02 Total Assets: $33,439,378.00 Gross Annual Revenue: $44,312,818.00 RRF Received: 18-AUG-03 Returned Date: 990 Attached: Y Status: Accepted	Fiscal Begin: 01-JAN-03 Fiscal End: 31-DEC-03 Total Assets: $39,123,799.00 Gross Annual Revenue: $51,890,017.00 RRF Received: 10-AUG-04 Returned Date: 990 Attached: Y Status: Accepted	Fiscal Begin: 01-JAN-04 Fiscal End: 31-DEC-04 Total Assets: $45,297,011.00 Gross Annual Revenue: $57,780,473.00 RRF Received: 16-MAY-05 Returned Date: 990 Attached: Y Status: Accepted
Fiscal Begin: 01-JAN-05 Fiscal End: 31-DEC-05 Total Assets: $53,084,257.00 Gross Annual Revenue: $57,396,323.00 RRF Received: 22-MAY-06 Returned Date: 990 Attached: Y Status: Accepted	Fiscal Begin: 01-JAN-06 Fiscal End: 31-DEC-06 Total Assets: $56,028,892.00 Gross Annual Revenue: $60,148,848.00 RRF Received: 17-MAY-07 Returned Date: 990 Attached: Y Status: Accepted	Fiscal Begin: 01-JAN-07 Fiscal End: 31-DEC-07 Total Assets: $52,452,670.00 Gross Annual Revenue: $60,516,048.00 RRF Received: 27-JUN-08 Returned Date: 990 Attached: Y Status: Accepted	Fiscal Begin: 01-JAN-08 Fiscal End: 31-DEC-08 Total Assets: $20,303,685.00 Gross Annual Revenue: $8,215,769.00 RRF Received: 29-OCT-09 Returned Date: 990 Attached: Y Status: Accepted
Fiscal Begin: 01-JAN-09 Fiscal End: 31-DEC-09 Total Assets: $25,167,132.00 Gross Annual Revenue: $8,927,540.00 RRF Received: 15-DEC-10 Returned Date: 990 Attached: Y Status: Accepted	Fiscal Begin: 01-JAN-10 Fiscal End: 31-DEC-10 Total Assets: $37,698,778.00 Gross Annual Revenue: $77,420,242.00 RRF Received: 12-JUL-11 Returned Date: 990 Attached: Y Status: Accepted

{{BELOW THIS typically are links to the 990s, state RRFs, and other documents of interest. Sample only, here…which read here, and may read things like:}} Related Documents
00000551 CT-551
0004EF8B Founding Documents
0004EF8C RRF-1 2008}} (An RRF is usually 2 pages, or if government funding has been received, at least three, as the sources must be named. What’s interesting here — the RRFs show no government contributions. However, that’s misleading — because no doubt this organization receives help from the National one, which obviously does.
That was for just ONE of three incorporations in California (only) of this National Organization.

Somehow (except what happened in 2009?) while the price of commodities (like gas) are going up much faster than, say, wages — and we are constantly being harrangued about closing of courthouses, reduction of social services (including — of all things — WELFARE) and last I heard (in SF), the Housing Agency services — somehow nonprofits getting government fundint (which this one is — through its Home Office in Michigan) — are doing quite well overall — both in their ASSETS and in their REVENUES.

In 1990, Bethany Christian Services of Northern California (AND of Southern California) were also formed, and founding documents clearly focus on child placement, foster care, pregnancy counseling AND acquiring or renting real estate — AND providing residential services — for some of the same. It also is a stock corporation (1,000 shares). The focus is definitely, however, on child placement. Here’s a 2011 tax return, showing (2nd page) what they do. It is a smaller size operation..All its unpaid directors say they work “0.5 hours per week”….

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Does the sponsorship of OUR tax funds (i.e., HHS grants) in combination with tax-exempt status, and contributions of churches (which are also more than tax exempt), have much to do with this? Who’s to know?

RESTATED CORPORATE BYLAWS ARTICLE 1: 1.1 NAME: The name is Bethany Christian Services, a Michigan not for profit corporation. 1.2 FOUNDATION: This organization is founded on the Word of God as stated in the Statement of Faith approved by the Board of Directors. 1.3 PURPOSE: Bethany Christian Services manifests the love and compassion of Jesus Christ by protecting and enhancing children and families through quality social services. ARTICLE 2: FINANCES: 2.2 FINANCING: The organization shall be financed by: contributions from individuals, churches, businesses, foundations and other organizations,** fees for services rendered reimbursement for contracted services.. … [[**Where does the $23 million of federal HHS grants come in, as to corporate bylaws??]] ARTICLE 3: MANAGEMENT: (Board of Directors manages it): 3.3 Qualifications: All Board of Directors shall be Christians who subscribe to the Corporation’s Statement of Faith. etc. …it seems well organized, and detailed. I didn’t read all 24 pages. Would love to get that “statement of faith.” Also of note — they have a Bethany Children’s Fund and Pension plan also, which are investments. page 13 of the link “Foundation Documents” shows the reaffirmations of the By-laws, and the 1944 Bylaws specifying the Statement of Faith refers to Reformed and (standard) Presbyterian Churches. …. and that they were targeting the spiritual and temporal welfare of dependent, neglected and orphaned children by providing: Christian Homes, Christian Education, and Church Activities.

I’m struck by the (1982-83) boards of directors, a certain ethnic similarity back in Michigan: Last names: “Boss, Buist, DeJonge DeVries, Kloote, Koning, Lee, Mulder, Plekker, Vanden Bosch, (Rev. Duane) VanderBrug, Visscher…” It seems to me some other states (esp. California) are a little more ethnically diverse. Similar names go for the other states it was in at the time: California, Iowa, New Jersey, Minnesota, Missouri, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee,…”

(see above, the IOWA branch, discussion of DORDT University and that it’s Calvinist).
These doctrinal arguments go back to (at least) the Reformation and Calvin. Grand Rapids Michigan being pretty well Dutch Reformed Territory, it only makes sense that they would also be anti-Arminian (LESS grace, LESS free will, MORE predestination, MORE Calvinist) and pretty intense about it.

Encyclopedia Britannica gives a nice summary on the situation: Jacob Arminius (short and sweet, places it geographically and in time). Arminius stood for more MERCY and a little more for FREE WILL. This wasn’t appreciated by the Calvinists, and Dutch Reformed Church. It seems that the government was more tolerant than the church(es):

After brief stays at the University of Padua, in Rome, and in Geneva, Arminius went to Amsterdam. He was ordained there in 1588. In 1603 Arminius was called to a theological professorship at Leiden, which he held until his death. These last six years of his life were dominated by theological controversy, in particular by his disputes with Franciscus Gomarus, his colleague at Leiden.

Considered a man of mild temperament, Arminius was forced into controversy against his own choice. He had earlier affirmed the Calvinist view of predestination, which held that those elected for salvation were so chosen prior to Adam’s fall, but he gradually came to have doubts about this teaching. To him predestination seemed too harsh a position, because it did not provide a place for the exercise of human free will in the process of salvation. Hence, Arminius came to assert a conditional election, according to which God elects to eternal life those who will respond in faith to the divine offer of salvation. In so doing, he meant to place greater emphasis on God’s mercy.

After his death some of his followers gave support to his views by signing the Remonstrance, a theological document written by Johannes Uyttenbogaert, a minister from Utrecht, in 1610. Remonstrant Arminianism was debated in 1618–19 at the Synod of Dort (Dordrecht), an assembly of the Dutch Reformed Church. The synod included delegates from Reformed churches in England, Germany, and Switzerland, as well as delegates from the Dutch church, all of whom were supporters of Gomarus. Arminianism was discredited and condemned by the synod, the Arminians present were expelled, and many others suffered persecution.

In 1629, however, the works of Arminius (Opera theologica [“Theological Works”]) were published for the first time in Leiden, and by 1630 the Remonstrant Brotherhood had achieved legal toleration. It was finally recognized officially in the Netherlands in 1795. In its emphasis on the grace of God, Arminianism influenced the development of Methodism in England and the United States.

((It took about 180 years….). About.com simplifies it some and brings it up to today’s times in America

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IOWA SECRETARY OF STATE, INCORPORATIONS:

Business No. Name Status Type
65064 BETHANY CHRISTIAN SERVICES Active Legal
123477 BETHANY CHRISTIAN SERVICES OF CENTRAL IOWA Inactive Legal
123144 BETHANY CHRISTIAN SERVICES OF NORTHWEST IOWA Active Legal
214613 BETHANY CHRISTIAN SERVICES OF SOUTH CENTRAL IOWA Inactive Legal
256801 BETHANY CHRISTIAN SERVICES OF SOUTH CENTRAL IOWA Inactive Legal
429608 BETHANY CHRISTIAN SERVICES OF SOUTH CENTRAL IOWA Active Legal
123144 BETHANY CHRISTIAN SERVICES OF THE HEARTLAND Active Fictitious name

Registered agent for this one (NW Iowa) is “Martha F. Hibma” at the (church) address. She is a LISW (social worker listing the same address), Clinical Psychologist etc. I think…

MY EARLIER LOOKUPS ON WHO IS BETHANY CHRISTIAN SERVICES

About Us
Who We Are

Bethany Christian Services is a global nonprofit organization caring for orphans and vulnerable children on five continents. Bethany is recognized as a prominent leader in social services worldwide, and we are the largest adoption agency in the U.S. Founded in 1944,** our mission calls us to demonstrate the love and compassion of Jesus Christ by protecting and enhancing the lives of children and families around the world.

Bethany Christian Service [sic*] is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.

What We Do

Bethany is about kids in families. We serve children of all ages as we strive toward a world where every child has a loving family. Our services include family support and preservation, adoption, foster care, pregnancy counseling, training, refugee services, sponsorship, and infertility ministry. We are called to demonstrate the compassion of Jesus Christ to vulnerable children around the world. 

Leadership

Bethany is blessed to serve you through our extensive national network of over 100 offices in more than 30 states and over 1,000 experienced professionals.

I see they also have a trademarked “SFFC” (Safe Families For Children) which isn’t foster care — but is described here. Allegedly the children hosted by other families are NOT victims of abuse or neglect; however situations in which they may host kids includes: domestic violence, and/or one incarcerated parent. They also advertise for foster care.

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* [“sic”] — the name is plural on the IRS (Bethany Christian Services, Inc.) and from what I can tell on the multiple nonprofit filings producing 990s. Minor detail, but any time dealing with corporations + HHS, is time to pay attention to details. From what I can tell, there are MULTIPLE 501(c)3s — and state filings More, below.

**So, wars make orphans — so this is a World War II relief organization initially?

(please read the rest of the site, explore a bit to see “location” and “services.” Notice the website copyright at the bottom is “2013.” Not surprising — I saw $160K being put into software services on one tax return.
(note: the website redirects to a location-sensitive site if one is using a cell phone, tablet, etc. — based I guess on GPS).

The Leadership Profile of Bethany Christian Services shows, besides Calvin College (and a Wheaton graduate), the President (Blackquiere)’s former involvement in Michigan Social Services, and other expertise. There’s no question they’re very well organized. (please view). I also see a Brian DeVos and, curious whether this is some relative of the famous (and very politically active, conservative) Rick DeVos of Amway. I didn’t find out, however, this article quotes him, in reference to:

Musician Steven Curtis Chapman’s daughter killed in accident

by Terry DeBoer | The Grand Rapids Press
Thursday May 22, 2008, 4:53 PM

Maria Sue Chapman was struck by a car driven by one of her teenage brothers, according to authorities in Franklin, Tenn., who added they believe no charges will result from what they termed “a tragic accident.”

The child died 10 days after her fifth birthday. Chapman’s manager, Jim Houser, also noted in a Web site posting the family had been hours away from hosting a high school graduation party for their son Caleb when the accident occurred.

Maria was the youngest of three Chinese girls the family had adopted, two of them [[WHICH TWO?]] through the the Nashville, Tenn., office of Bethany Christian Services. Chapman and his wife, Mary Beth, also have three biological children — two teenage sons and a 21-year-old daughter.

“They are loving and wonderful parents and a great family — they must be devastated,” said Brian De Vos, manager of Michigan operations for Bethany Christian Services. “He’s been such an advocate for adoption — I know their commitment to kids.”

DeVos has known the Chapmans for eight years and worked with them on Shaohannah’s Hope, a foundation the couple named for one of their adopted daughters and established to help families through the often expensive adoption process. During Chapman’s most recent concert tour — which included a stop at Sunshine Community Church last September — the singer raised $340,000 for the foundation. While here, he awarded a grant of about $3,000 to a local family for adoption expenses.

He also has raised funds for construction of an orphanage in China for special-needs children who likely will never be adopted.

Chapman, 45, has sold more than 10 million albums, has had dozens of No. 1 Christian radio hits, and has won more than 50 Dove Awards — exceeding any other individual artist. Yet he would much rather talk about his family or his work with adoptions and orphans.

Of the three little girls in the photo, the one on the father’s lap is the one who was run over and killed in the driveway by one of the two teenaged boys. (His site “stevenchapman.com” has “BIO” and “ADOPT” right next to each other. The Chapmans and Adoption

Also see “Remembering Maria” and the story of her adoption, as a special needs child, and her short, five years of life with the Chapmans. Which boy did it is not mentioned….

[[Follow up on this reference — connects to an HHS grant series “90WX####” which has the ABA and the NACC (a select group of recipients) connecting Child Welfare Law (NACC project/$600K) to Adoption Opportunities; with many recipients not showing a DUNS# as they should (like, NACC’s grant should have). Shaohannah’s hope — a Steven Chapman foundation (Shaohannah being one of the other adoptees) — got an $180K grant from a certain McLean, Virginia Address — which (i.e., Virginia being right near our nation’s capitol) to even MORE “adoption groups out of the (exact same) street address with close Congressional Connectinos — in fact, one of them which lobbied for the passage of the acts of Congress which PSSF (Promote Safe and Stable Families) and, in short, encourage adopting more kids out of foster care, faster — plus international adoptions. These are interlaced closely with the fatherhood personnel (i.e., one of the groups had Wade Horn on its board). In short — that needs to become another post.., showing some of the networks “Bethany Christian Services” is actually hooked into. Like, for example, Congress…. And it’s doing this as an overtly religious nonprofit.]]

It would be irresponsible on my part not to report it; I have already discussed with a few (educated on these matters) friends:

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Not the end of the story, however:
Women subjected to faith-based and fatherhood grants policies — including women that I KNOW — have been driven onto welfare, are fighting to keep their kids OUT of foster care improperly, and at times have been homeless. No mercy for these American women who abandoned the “Stand by your Man” song when that man was violent; they are strung out across the land in trauma and despised/marginalized by the religious institutions who STILL minimize abuse. No wonder certain Christian groups are much more interested in cute, adoptable children from across the globe (particularly in some very Caucasian neighborhoods, there is a love of Asian babies) who will not remind them of scripture from a different point of view: “Let love be without dissimulation” (hypocrisy//Romans 12).

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Let the Religious Fund the Religious, 100% MINUS Special Tax-Exempt Privileges.

Let the REST of the Public Get Educated about What HHS (and government in general) DOES with the harvest of income tax, sales tax, investments on assets co-opted (things both given by consent and taken by graft) from the public — and keep it on a tighter leash. NO MORE FUNDING EVANGELIST (OR ANY OTHER TYPE OF RELIGION, INCLUDING “NEW AGE”) CAUSES IN THE NAME OF “CHILDREN AND FAMILIES.”

At some point in time, the religious exemption for organizations needs to be revised — and become a regular nonprofit status. After that, the nonprofit status should probably also be eradicated — it is simply creating a caste system of those who form nonprofits — and those who do not. The money trail is muddied through these organizations (intentionally so), and the groups which have MOST (from what I can tell) taken advantage of this are our leaders themselves — lawyers, judges, psychiatrists & psychologists dealing with the courts (AFCC sorts) — and the religious leaders throughout the land. Anyone have a grasp of what kind of political clout that represents?

It was bad enough before 2001 (Stolen Election, George W. Bush, Faith-based), Obama didn’t reverse the same faith-based office, just gave it his own brand. The office was inappropriate — it was established by Executive Order from a family line with clear ties to profiting from war, not to mention racism/Eugenics movement!!

(A New Year’s Eve (almost) post on “The Council of Biblical Manhood and Womanhood” (nonprofit) — see “Dr. Randall Turner” linkedin and activities, i.e., child and family therapist, when not working for National Fatherhood Initiative or helping treat sex offenders returning from prison. More on Saddleback on the same post).

Or see comments from “eralyn” on the bottom of my last post, and her experience with having a (fake) pastor go help fetch her ex-batterer (who was carried away from the home via SWAT team) get back on his feat and start terrorizing the family (daughter never knew her Dad), supervised visitation trauma, etc. (I’ve seen the prison and some other records on that one, or wouldn’t reference it). These are women who have enough self-respect to vacate these institutions on the basis to what they have done to our families, personally — and to the class of women as a whole. The women who continue to stay and support them, do not help the safety factor, or the accountability factor — at all. Again, I suffered for years in a violent marriage with small children, and had I not finally found a group that helped me file a restraining order (or learn that they existed!!), we’d probably be all, or most of us, dead by now. After learning my rights, I continue to be amazed at how this happened, and is still happening.

So, the expansion and evangelism is going to have to overcome the “bad reputation” (well-deserved) and track record. AS IT TURNS OUT — Evangelism by Adoption (all over the world) seems a very attractive alternative… Infants are a little less resistant to indoctrination…. and of course (forget the track record), this from compassion — and not a need to swell the ranks of the various churches involved in it, and definitely not for tax write-offs, or anything financially improper.

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(A NONSEQUITUR this part of the grant, but I just found the Bethany Christian Services “statement of Faith” with its extreme focus on FAMILY and SIN. (See above theological paragraphs from its heritage):

STATEMENT OF FAITH Bethany Christian Services is founded uppon the scriptures which reveal the triune God. Members of the National Board, Local Boards, Staff, and Adoptive Applicants indicate their personal agreement with Bethany Christian Service’s Statement of Faith by Signing Below.” (I cannot copy the text, please read, especially the first two or three paragraphs. Point #2 heavily emphasizes the FAMILY and Point #3 emphasizes SIN.)

Discussion forum on this topic among
participants. Another one, 2005, Quoting CNN, “Catholics aren’t Christian Enough for Bethany Christian Services” (single comments page) although they receive money from “Choose Life” license plates fees…..

Apparently the public indignation got results, and they backed up on their policies (posted in Democratic Underground). This is 2005, my friends…Catholics (who are in the same basic business) aren’t Christian enough?

“[BCS] decides Catholics Ok after all”

Grand Rapids, MI– July 20, 2005 –The local Board of Directors for Bethany Christian Services of Mississippi met in Jackson on July 19, and voted unanimously to change their practice to now include Catholic families in all adoption programs. “The Board in Mississippi responded appropriately and is now consistent with Bethany’s national practice,” said Glenn DeMots, President and CEO of Bethany Christian Services.

The National Board of Bethany Christian Services also met July 19, in Grand Rapids, Michigan and unanimously voted to reaffirm that “All families in agreement with the agency’s Statement of Faith, including Catholic families, are eligible to adopt.” The Board also stated that all Bethany offices will comply with this practice. “We are sorry for offending families and all partners of Bethany, and regret any pain and hurt caused by this issue,” said DeMots.

Bethany offices throughout the United States have worked with Catholic families for years. Statistics show that over 16 percent of Bethany’s adoptions in 2004 were with Catholic families. “Bethany has and will continue to place children with loving Christian families,” added DeMots.

Recently, the Stedman family was denied services from Bethany Christian Services of Mississippi on the basis of their Catholic faith. “We are pleased that Bethany listened to our concerns and made the change to work with Catholic families,” said Robert Stedman. “Bethany does admirable work and we can now be supportive of this pro-life ministry.” Sandy Stedman adds, “This decision by Bethany speaks volumes. We hope and pray this unites Christians.”

I found this article on Wikipedia, “Presbyterian Church in America informative on the Presbyterian splits. Some of them seem to be North/South, also protests of the standard (more liberal) PCUSA (presby Church USA) hanging out with World Councils of Church, and excommunicating (sic) pastors who refused to ordain women (or lesbian/gays). In general, I think you can see the drift. I do not remember exactly where BCS fits in this picture, but somewhere towards CONSERVATIVE. Again, as a woman survivor of religious abuse, I don’t think we should be funding them. Particularly, some of the shell games with the grants needs to be straightened out. More to come..

SUMMARY

Time to re-evaluate the wisdom ofgiving our government money UP FRONT through wages (income tax) and contributions to a government-managed pension plan. We REALLY need to get a hold of this Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) material ($8 Trillion Surplus in California Characterized as a Deficit; i.e., economic fraud//Carl Herman, 6/2012 article), digest it, and quit just kneeling down at the altar of more taxation while the government pays the professional (and religious) classes to keep the po’ folk in line, claiming the real problem is the po’ folk – -and not the government/religious thieves!

Plus the social security based auction block, that’s willing to pay OUR million$ to organizations (staffed by attorneys, no less) SELLING frozen embryos to help build church membership, while in the same breath, the same organizations, won’t give grown-up women, and mothers, the time of day when they come reporting abuse, fleeing abuse, or demanding that the corporation either start complying with the law (as mandated reporters), or forfeit their special tax status — and of course, our support.

There needs to be a serious shift in consciousness. I hope this can be done by peaceful means, and soon, but it has to be done. Meanwhile, some of us who’ve already undergone this, will continue speaking and preaching to the issues. These are life and death matters, and they cut to the very core of what we are doing, every day, at work, and (as the shoe fits) in compliance with religious organizations.