Alleged abuse of children under the care of Niños de México was analyzed and substantiated by findings during a 2-year independent investigation.The devastating report from the probe conducted by Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment was made public on November 12, 2025. According to the G.R.A.C.E findings, the abuse goes back to the beginning of the ministry in the late 1960’s.
Will the board members and leadership of Niños follow the recommendations of the report? Will they do the right thing for the victims/survivors? The tax filings Form 990 for 2023 indicate net assets owned by Niños total over $1.4 million. Is this a source for funding the suggested Independent Victim-Survivor Restitution Care Fund?
From the G.R.A.C.E final report:
“The deep-seated culture of secrecy and institutional self-preservation must be dismantled through radical transparency and tangible, costly acts of repentance.
1. Issue a Comprehensive Public Apology and Acknowledgment of Harm: The organization must issue a formal, detailed public apology that is permanently and prominently displayed on its website and communicated to all past and present donors. The apology must specifically name the founders (Wanda and Merlyn Beeman) and key leadership (including Steve Ross, Terry Stine, David Hernandez, Juan Manuel Vasquez, Noe Flores, etc. ) as having failed to protect children. It must unequivocally acknowledge the specific findings of this report, including the decades of sexual and physical misconduct, the harmful responses, and the culture of fear. It must explicitly reject the past culture of secrecy as a profound moral and operational failure, not an unfortunate mistake.
2. Establish and Fund an Independent Victim-Survivor Restitution and Care Fund: As an act of repentance and to provide tangible support for those harmed, Niños de México must establish a substantial restitution fund. This fund must be legally separate from the organization and administered by an independent third party, with a governing board that includes victim-survivor representation. The fund must provide accessible, non-adversarial funding for counseling, medical care, education, and other long-term care needs for all victim-survivors of abuse at its facilities. This is not a matter of charity, but of justice, a recognition of the harm the organization is responsible for both causing and failing to address, and a tangible demonstration of remorse.
When Zacchaeus repented for his sins, he gave half of his possessions to the poor and paid back four times the amount of money he had cheated his victims out of (Luke 19:1-9). In this case, Niños de México cannot give the reporting victims back their childhoods or restore to them what was taken from them, but they can take ownership for the harm the organization caused..” (G.R.A.C.E Independent Investigation of Niños de México Final Report and Recommendations, November 12, 2025, p. 254)
From the book, Clergy Cover-up Does It Work?:
“June 26, 2023 Doug Lay, one of the whistleblowers who tried to convince FCCF/Christ First and SLCC of the proper steps to avoid coverup and transparently own and see to their responsibility to their people and to the survivors, commented as he continued trying to point them down the correct track:
‘When FCCF pastor Steve Wingfield was told of allegations of sexual
abuse of six minors, he and the elders CHOSE not to ask for an outside
investigation; when SLCC president Terry Stine was informed of
sexual misconduct of former students on campus, he and the trustees
CHOSE not to ask for an outside investigation; and when Director
Steve Ross of a children’s home in Mexico City, was told of multiple
allegations of sexual abuse of minors, he and the board CHOSE not to
ask for an outside investigation. Three significant Restoration
Movement institutions of over 60 years for each one—a church, a
college, a mission work— all followed the same practice. If you think
that there is not a clergy sexual abuse problem in the Restoration
movement, perhaps it is because by not investigating allegations of
sexual abuse with an independent organization, these institutions
keep the abuse hidden… thus the Restoration movement can claim
they are not like the Catholic Churches, Southern Baptist churches, or
Ravi Z. ministries…all organizations, by the way, exposed with sexual
misconduct and abuse by independent investigations!’
The damage to the Niños testimony for the Gospel and the life-long struggle for survivors are the greater consequence to the train wreck foisted upon Niños de Mexico by poor administration and bad choices.” (Taylor, Joy S., Clergy Cover-up Does It Work?, Lily of the Valley Publishing Services, 2024, Indiana, pp. 107-108, 111-112.)
Clergy Cover-up is available on Amazon.
https://business.amazon.com/abredir/author/joystaylor
God is good! Thank you to my readers! You are making a difference. Royalties go to Safe Connections in St. Louis, a non-profit serving victims and survivors of abuse. Help me support victims and survivors. Buy a book and leave a review on Amazon.
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Joy S. Taylor is a mother, grandmother, and great grandmother. Her workdays were spent using the Master of Science in Accounting degree she earned at the age of, well, greater than 40. She led a divorce recovery support group sponsored by her church and spent more than a decade in leadership roles for Celebrate Recovery. Now retired, she concentrates on writing, yet devotes some of her time volunteering for Care Net .
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