SPINDALE (NC)
Raw Story
November 13, 2017
By Sarah K. Burris
The Word of Faith Fellowship, a North Carolina church facing a slew of investigations, is now being accused of kidnapping the children of at least one mother.
According to the Associated Press, the church in Spindale, North Carolina, used its relationship with a social worker to take more than a dozen children from their families.
As a child advocate, Nancy Burnette was tasked with visiting the church to ensure two foster children were safe while a family was working to adopt them. Out of the blue, the pastor pointed to Burnette and accused her of being “wicked.”
″You are here to cause strife!” she recalled pastor Jane Whaley shouting during a fiery sermon. At that point she said she felt the church members converge upon her. “You don’t think these kids are supposed to be here!”
North Carolina’s social services laws cite “family preservation,” so as to prevent “unnecessary placement of children away from their families.” Yet, many children have been taken from their families and put into the custody of church members. Thus far, three single mothers have come forward to allege a county court clerk bypassed the foster system so that church members were able to obtain custody of their children, despite a judge calling the conduct inappropriate.
“What I didn’t know was how hard Word of Faith would fight — and the tactics they would use — to keep the kids,” Burnette said.
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