Stanley family - Fundies have children removed

[browncoatslytherin]

Okay, so apparently he thinks the oldest two kids who are now in college are behind this. Also, a visitation was cut short because he was trying to worship with his kids, or he said something? I don't quite understand, but here is the article.

http://www.christianpost.com/news/7-hom ... on-134335/

blaming everybody but themselves

[Palimpsest]

Well, to be fair, in that amazing transcript fjismyheadship provided, he just said it seemed like 50, not that there were actually 50 cops.

I think the snipers and swat team are likely just part of the whole militarized police force thing. Must be terrifying though!

I'm wondering with all the talk of the MMS and coroner and so many cops -- did they think the MMS was some sort of bomb making supply? I could see if they were hearing isolationist, and extremist and prepper they could go down that path.

Several of the January mainstream media reports called Stanley a prepper. So did Survivalist Magazine, for that matter. He denied it, but the question certainly came up. So I think the SWAT team (includes snipers) was called out because they were anticipating weapons in the house and a possible Ruby Ridge type situation. This is not to say that I don't agree with Mama Mia that the police are too militarized these days - but the Stanleys could definitely fit the survivalist profile.

The AmVet references surprise me though. I thought that was mostly a lobbying organization with services primarily focused on helping veterans get health benefits. In that interview Stanley certainly says AmVet. However, in the context - the children were taken to the "Amvet" to be examined - "ambulance" would make a lot more sense.

[FJismyheadship]

I wondered about it. It sounded like amvet but I'm sure he was talking about an ambulance.

On another note, I looked up where they live, and they are at least ten miles away from town. The road they live down is out by Lake Ouachita, and I know someone who lives down the same road. Anyway, you would have to have a vehicle to get into town for sure. Although I had seen somewhere someone was talking about the eldest son who apparently attends NPCC and he rode his bike daily to school from somewhere near the same until he saved up enough to get a scooter. If he was still living at home when he started classes and rode his bike to and from school daily, that is real dedication. For sure he would be a fit young man.

I wish we knew what the allegations were.

[NotALoserLikeYou]

He's not blaming the college kids, but is still blaming the two oldest minors who wanted to go to public school.

[browncoatslytherin]

He's not blaming the college kids, but is still blaming the two oldest minors who wanted to go to public school.

not according to the linked article from the last page: christianpost.com/news/7-homeschool-kids-to-remain-in-state-custody-at-least-5-more-weeks-father-says-theyre-victims-of-christian-persecution-134335/

Stanley also disclosed that he thinks two of his older children, who have already gone on to college, could be behind the investigation because they always expressed interest in going to public school.

he's apparently tossing the blame game around to everyone, like a hot potato.

[NotALoserLikeYou]

not according to the linked article from the last page: christianpost.com/news/7-homeschool-kids-to-remain-in-state-custody-at-least-5-more-weeks-father-says-theyre-victims-of-christian-persecution-134335/

he's apparently tossing the blame game around to everyone, like a hot potato.

I think the article got that wrong, because the next paragraph is his actual quote:

Stanley also disclosed that he thinks two of his older children, who have already gone on to college, could be behind the investigation because they always expressed interest in going to public school.

"We have a couple of our teenagers who decided they wanted to go to public school," Stanley contends. "I think they are behind some of this, but we are trying to get to the bottom of it ourselves."

[NotALoserLikeYou]

I dunno. Maybe he is saying the older two are helping the other two. But that's not what he said before. I guess it could be either. As long as it's not anywhere near the truth lol

[browncoatslytherin]

I think the article got that wrong, because the next paragraph is his actual quote:

the way i read it was that the older college kids had expressed a similar interest in public school and nurtured it in the minor kids, so they would be to blame in an indirect way, according to him. i can see your point, though. either the writer got the idea behind the quote wrong, or they possibly quoted him incompletely or incorrectly. gotta love the standards of journalism...

[FJismyheadship]

Well, I found a video that showed part of the warrant, and screenshot it, but I don't think it does much good.

[FJismyheadship]

https://stanleyfamily.wordpress.com/sermons/

Does anyone feel like listening to these sermons and seeing what kind of crazy you can pull out of them?

[Mama Mia]

I dunno. Maybe he is saying the older two are helping the other two. But that's not what he said before. I guess it could be either. As long as it's not anywhere near the truth lol

I remember either he or the mother said in that first video interview back when the kids were first taken, that they had some sort of issues with the two who were out of the house. It sounded, to me, like they weren't completely alientated or anything extreme. But that the parents didn't approve of all of their choices. And I got the impression that the mother was thinking her teens still at home were going down the same path. It was really short, and I think towards the end of the mothers statement. She is definitely the less restrained of the two. I think that kind of goes along with the statement the oldest son made. He sounded like he loves his parents and still is involved and close --- but that he doesn't approve of everything they do as parents and thinks they have some work to do.

[FJismyheadship]

So Magellan says he saw the warrant and the warrant is only for MMS.

But I think he is crazy pants, so he might be lying.

[browncoatslytherin]

So Magellan says he saw the warrant and the warrant is only for MMS.

But I think he is crazy pants, so he might be lying.

even if the warrant was only for mms...if they found something else or observed something else that concerned them, don't you think they would act on it? or would they be all like, "eh, it's pretty concerning, but it's not in the warrant, soooo..." i'm no le officer, but if i go to exercise a warrant for one thing and find something else illegal along with what i was originally looking for, i would act on everything i found, no matter what the original warrant says.

[Trynn]

Right. I remember learning that in criminal justice class when we talked about warrants. Anything you find in there is fair game, at least in Michigan.

[FJismyheadship]

From Michelle,

This update is going to be an attempt to let you peer into a window of our home and hopefully get a glimpse of who we are as a family. We are overwhelmed at the love and support of so many and yet understanding of those who are on a fence not knowing who we are, or are suspicious of what goes on "behind our closed doors". We are (or were) for the most part a private family who likes to be as much "off the grid" as possible although we are not by any means "completely off" as we would like to be, (especially now) nor are we hermits or isolationist (our family being our only "community") as some authorities would like to paint us to be.

Although I am not a camera buff, I do like to take pictures. I'm from Louisiana and we moved to Arkansas right after our first child was born. Since all our relatives live mostly in Louisiana and elsewhere, I am the type mom to take tons of pictures and send to all the relatives to keep them up to date on how the children are growing. Because of this we have not hundreds but "thousands" of pictures to show who we are.

Here is an album of pictures I gathered over the past seven years and the post I wrote to go along with it:

We are the Stanleys, and I am blessed beyond measure to have such a privilege to be Mrs. Hal Stanley and the mother of nine Stanley children. I made this album to help those who don't know us to have a peek into our family and see for yourselves that though we are not a perfect family we sure are blessed. Our goal has always been from the beginning of our marriage to honor and glorify the Lord Jesus Christ in our home and in our family. Our faith is in His perfect will and we trust He will work all this ordeal out for good to those that love Him and for His glory.

Note: I tried to only pick out pictures that had just our family in them for privacy reasons. I did include the kids' pawpaw and a few other relatives and friends so these pictures do not rightly represent how much interaction we have with other people. If I were to include pictures of all the interaction we have had with other people I would probably run out of my 20 GB of storage space on my Google plus web album account smile emoticon

May the Lord bless you and may you enjoy seeing a glimpse of the past 7 years of our lives.

Love,

Michelle Stanley

Here is the album: https://plus.google.com/photos/10084733 ... a2mm8DNowE

[Mama Mia]

Whatever their issues I was relieved to see in those pictures that they don't have the deer- in- the- headlights hostage look of the Rodrigueses.

[BrownieMomma]

I looked at about 30 pictures of the 232 and got a little confused. The first 20 or so make it look like the white haired old man is the father with a very much younger wife. Then there's two pics with a man who much more looks like he'd be the son of white haired man, wife of young wife, and father of all those young kids.

I see where she says she is Mrs. So and So and mother of nine Stanley children. So she is not the mother of the older children, correct? I did not look at all the pictures.

[Mama Mia]

I looked at about 30 pictures of the 232 and got a little confused. The first 20 or so make it look like the white haired old man is the father with a very much younger wife. Then there's two pics with a man who much more looks like he'd be the son of white haired man, wife of young wife, and father of all those young kids.

I see where she says she is Mrs. So and So and mother of nine Stanley children. So she is not the mother of the older children, correct? I did not look at all the pictures.

My understanding is that there were seven minor children placed into care. They also have two young adult children. Mrs. Stanley is the mother of those nine children. Additionally Mr. Stanley has five adult children from a previous marriage. The photos show both the father, and the older man who is the grandfather.

I'm really curious as to the opinion and involvement of Mr. Stanley's oldest children. They may not have much connection to their younger siblings, or live out of the area. Because it seems like they would of been the natural first choice for placement if they were nearby. The oldest must be at least late twenties, possibly much older as Mr. Stanley has stated he's much older than his wife. He looks, to me, to be 60 ish -- so his grown children from his first marriage could be 40 ish.

[Palimpsest]

My understanding is that there were seven minor children placed into care. They also have two young adult children. Mrs. Stanley is the mother of those nine children. Additionally Mr. Stanley has five adult children from a previous marriage. The photos show both the father, and the older man who is the grandfather.

I'm really curious as to the opinion and involvement of Mr. Stanley's oldest children. They may not have much connection to their younger siblings, or live out of the area. Because it seems like they would of been the natural first choice for placement if they were nearby. The oldest must be at least late twenties, possibly much older as Mr. Stanley has stated he's much older than his wife. He looks, to me, to be 60 ish -- so his grown children from his first marriage could be 40 ish.

Hal Stanley is 73 and has white hair and beard. He is the one who looks like a grandpa and is in a lot of the photos. 2nd wife Michelle Stanley is 45.

Photo 159 shows people identified as Pawpaw and Granny. I think Pawpaw looks younger than Hal and is presumably Michelle's father. I clicked on a couple of the photos showing more middle aged males and they are identified as family friends or an "oathe" keeper (whatever that is).

I would also like to know what happened to Hal Stanley's first wife. And what his first 5 children think of their half-siblings being taken into care.

[salex]

Oath keepers....

oathkeepers.org/oktester/ national group

Arkansas....

oathkeepers.net/ar/

[Palimpsest]

Oath keepers....

oathkeepers.org/oktester/ national group

Arkansas....

oathkeepers.net/ar/

Yes. I was being a trifle sarcastic there about Michelle's inability to spell oath.

So, Stanley may or may not want to be called a prepper, a survivorist, or a sovereign citizen but he and Michelle are happy to take and publically display family photos with Oath Keepers.

Okay.

[FJismyheadship]

From the BringTheStanleyKidsHome page

Good morning dear friends I wanted to share with you a little encouraging news. Last week we all pushed back when the news broke that the family's freedom of religion was being tested and they was not being allowed to pray and worship together.

Friday it was arranged so that the children were brought home for a few hours and their parents were told you can pray and worship with you children if you want. So they were joyfully able to have a family worship time for the first time in 40 days and the children got to spend some time at home with their parents.

Thank you all for your prayers and support. Hal and Michelle are reading your comments and are very thankful for you all and you prayers are felt.

Today as you go to your places of worship lift the Stanley family up and other families that are suffering. We had one small victory in a great battle that is just part of a greater war.

I wonder if they are going to break the gag order? I would be interested to see the fallout on that one. They certainly have enough people pushing them to break it.

[Mama Mia]

From the BringTheStanleyKidsHome page

I wonder if they are going to break the gag order? I would be interested to see the fallout on that one. They certainly have enough people pushing them to break it.

That sounds to me like more like a typical family reunification plan, not some big, exceptional event due to anything about religious freedom. Generally if the kids are pulled the parents will initially have supervised visitation at a neutral location. They will then move to home visits If they are making progress on their plan -- in this case probably counseling or parenting classes - possibly informally with their social worker. Maybe having to remove hazards , since they said they had that big backyard clean up. Possibly having to agree to refrain from corporeal punishment. Usually the visits start at a few hours, and increase in frequency. In longer term cases where the parents don't have much practice in parenting, they might be in visitation mode for quite awhile. But for this family, if they agree to follow guidelines and there aren't big scary secrets -- they might just be returned fairly quickly. Likely with six months or so of follow up services. I wouldn't be surprised if the teen(s) who were allowed to live with their older sibling or another relative instead.

Wow, so if Hal is that much older than his wife, her parents could very well be quite a few years younger than her husband. If he's in his seventies it kind of makes me wonder if he has been getting more paranoid and isolationist due to health issues-- or just plain fear about what will happen with all these kids when he dies.

[nelliebelle1197]

Some of the girls are gorgeous and all are pretty. These kids are definitely a good looking bunch, which surprised me. I have to say old Hal looks good for his age and his garden is amazing. Certainly looks like a better life than Zsucufer's kids have. Which isn't saying much.

That said, considering GrandpaDad's crazy beliefs, I am not hopeful this situation will do much to help these children should they go back. GrandpaDad will just use this to justify his own righteousness and go deeper off the grid.

[StellaMarie]

Some of the girls are gorgeous and all are pretty. These kids are definitely a good looking bunch, which surprised me. I have to say old Hal looks good for his age and his garden is amazing. Certainly looks like a better life than Zsucufer's kids have. Which isn't saying much.

That said, considering GrandpaDad's crazy beliefs, I am not hopeful this situation will do much to help these children should they go back. GrandpaDad will just use this to justify his own righteousness and go deeper off the grid.

"GrandpaDad" is fantastic!

I looked through the pictures and the oldest girl disappears after June 2012. Which, of course, may not mean anything, but you'd think that even if she moved out for college, she'd be back for Christmas and/or birthdays. The oldest boy is still in pics.

Also, it pains me that Michelle Stanley is teaching her children grammar.