The ultimate bait and switch

If you are looking at Ethnos360's website or listening to Ethnos360, formerly New Tribes Mission, leadership, you would think they care about protecting children. You would be sure they are doing everything in their power to keep kids safe.

After the 2019 NBC article about widespread abuse within the organization, then-CEO Larry Brown responded with the same flowery words he had been saying for a decade, when the GRACE report on Fanda came out. This response included, "We have been very vocal in promoting that proactive child safety policies and procedures be put in place... Ethnos360 will continue to review our policies and safety procedures to better safeguard children." He concluded by saying, "We are responsible to our members, their children, our ministry partners, the laws of the countries in which we minister..."

That sounds reassuring, but their response to a recent complaint filed against them tells a different story. They are arguing in court that they are not responsible for what happens to children at their facilities. They say Ethnos360 has no obligation to families on their campuses if the abuse occurs inside a residence. Additionally, there are multiple allegations that Ethnos360 leadership is telling people across their organization that parents and children are fully responsible for child safety, and if something happens to a missionary kid, they are to blame.

This is an organization that has kept known child abusers on staff for decades after their abuse was disclosed to leadership. At campuses like the one in Missouri, hundreds of staff and students, including families with children, live on the Ethnos360-owned and operated property. They claim significant reform and insist their policies, procedures, background checks, etc., will protect members' children, and yet they are saying in court that they do not believe they have any responsibility for what members that they hire, train, and monitor do to children if it happens in a house.

This is the ultimate bait and switch. Ethnos360 lures missionaries in with promises of extensive training, experience, policies, and procedures, but if something happens to a missionary's child, suddenly they claim they never had a duty to protect, even if it is a direct result of their own negligence.