Background & Charter

When the Independent Abuse Review Panel (IARP) opened its outreach to former missionary children (MKs) it became apparent that there was no existing mailing list of the children who had gone into the mission field with their parents.

To initially begin the search for former missionary children this letter from Dr. McClure was sent to all retired missionaries on file at the Presbyterian Center. The retired missionaries were asked to provide the panel with the names, contact information and school(s) attended for their children.

From these replies the panel began building a database of MKs and corresponding with them directly. This process is slower than optimal; however, it has allowed the panel to identify several schools and time frames from which incidences of reported abuse are emerging.

Further investigations are needed to pursue the truth by locating victims and others having knowledge of the scope of abuse and to reveal as complete a picture as possible of the environment of the schools for the given time frames.

The Independent Committee of Inquiry

In 2004 the Independent Committee of Inquiry (ICI) had completed its investigative work and representatives of PC(USA) had responded personally to survivors. You may wish to read the entire report.

What to do?

If you or someone you care about was physically or sexually abused while parents served PC(USA) or one of its predecessor denominations as a missionary, contact:

IARP
P.O. Box 18241
Rochester, NY 14618
(866) 313-3694 (toll-free)
Email IARP

If you or someone you care about is currently being physically or sexually abused while missionary parents serve PC(USA), contact:

Patricia A. Hendrix
Sexual Misconduct Ombudsperson
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
100 Witherspoon Street, Room 3608
Louisville, KY 40202
(888) 728-7228 ext. 5285
Abuse hotline:
(888) 728-7228 ext. 5207
International abuse hotline:
(502) 569-5207

Also see the Creating Safe Churches Web site for further information.