NPR ALL THINGS CONSIDERED (NPR 8:00 pm ET)
DECEMBER 7, 1998 9:20 pm ET
Transcript # 98120712-212
National Public Radio

Boot Camp for God

Linda Wertheimer, Washington, DC; Noah Adams, Washington

HIGHLIGHT: NPR's Mark Roberts reports on a custody battle over 15 year ol
honor student Matthew Grise. After being absent from the boy's life for
years, his father has taken custody of Grise and placed him in a rigid,
religious boy's home -- out of contact with any other relatives. The aunt
and uncle who'd been raising Matthew following the death of his mother are
fighting to have him released from the home and returned to their custody.



LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST: This is NPR's ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Linda
Wertheimer.

NOAH ADAMS, HOST: And I'm Noah Adams.

A custody fight over a 15 year old boy in Colorado is not only pitting the
boy's family members against each other, it's also raising questions about
the teenager's right to freedom of movement and communications.

Matthew Grise has been placed by his father in a Christian boy's home in
Louisiana over the protests of family members who had been raising him.

The fundamentalist minister who runs the home won't allow the boy to
communicate with anyone but the father, and state authorities say they have
no right to check on the boy's welfare inside the private institution.

NPR's Mark Roberts has the story.

MARK ROBERTS, NPR REPORTER: In the country outside Silt, Colorado, cattle
graze in a field next to the home of Payson (ph) and Charlene Grise. Above
the tree-lined ridge streaks of orange clouds highlight the evening the
sunset. The couple's cat clambers for attention.

This time last year the Grise's daily routine included driving their nephew
Matthew to school. Matthew came to live with his aunt and uncle after his
mother died three years ago.

CHARLENE GRISE, AUNT TO MICHAEL GRISE: There's a picture of me and Matt. You
can see Matt's quite the football player behind me there.

PAYSON GRISE, UNCLE TO MICHAEL GRISE: He was 13 there. So, he's -- I'm six
foot. He was almost...

ROBERTS: But the Grises have no recent photos. Last December the child went
to see his father and never came back.

This summer the Grises found out the boy's dad had sent him to a
fundamentalist Christian boy's home in rural Louisiana.

CHARLENE GRISE: We've seen pictures of it. Has barbed wire fences that are
really high. It looks like a prison. It doesn't look like a school. It looks
like a prison. In the picture... ROBERTS: It's a place the Grises were told
they can't visit or even speak to their nephew on the phone.

CHARLENE GRISE: Matthew is not allowed to communicate with anyone. We were
told that we could write letters only through his father's house, and they
censor everything, basically his father does, and the school does.

And Matthew could only send a letter through his father's house. We're not
able to talk to him directly.

ROBERTS: Matthew Grise never really knew his father, who left Colorado when
he was a little boy. He lived alone with his single mother Elizabeth. After
her death from cancer, he moved in with his aunt and uncle.

The Grises say the boy adjusted well and got near straight A's in school.
Last December his dad Vincent Russo contacted the Grises about letting
Matthew come to Missouri for a Christmas visit.

After the holidays, Russo phoned to say his son wanted to stay with him.

But according to the Grises the boy clashed with his father's strict
fundamentalist Christian views.

This summer, says Payson Grise, the child's father sent Matthew to the New
Bethany Baptist Church Home for Boys outside Arcadia, Louisiana.

PAYSON GRISE: We have an honor student who left this state, lived not that
long of a time with his father and his father's wife, and then ended up
inside of a children's prison. It just isn't right and we got to do
something about it.

ROBERTS: But the Grises face a daunting task. Each state makes its own child
custody laws. Legal experts say the Matthew Grise case points out the
importance of a will to specify who should get custody of a child after a
parent's death.

Barbara Woodhouse, who specializes in children's rights, says without a will
or some other documentary evidence, there's little the child's aunt and
uncle can do.

BARBARA WOODHOUSE, CHILDREN'S RIGHT CONSULTANT: It's very difficult for an
outsider, sometimes a grandparent, or a close neighbor or relative, very
difficult for a third party to prevail in a fight or a contest with a parent
over the upbringing of the child.

ROBERTS: Vincent Russo declined to talk about why he sent his son to New
Bethany. Repeated attempts to hear his side were turned down. Local
authorities estimate some 50 boys live at the New Bethany Boy's Home for
Troubled Teens, run by the Reverend Mack Ford (ph), a fundamentalist
Christian preacher. Ford refused to talk about his school. He won't talk to
Louisiana state officials either.

Since the school is not licensed, social workers, the police -- no one can
go inside to check on the children's welfare.

Louisiana social services lawyer Steve Mayer (ph).

STEVE MAYER, ATTORNEY, SOCIAL SERVICES, LOUISIANA: Under Louisiana law, most
child placing agencies, child caring agencies, anybody that care for
children, is required to be licensed. However, several years ago, there was
this one little provision put in there that said if a facility does not
charge a fee for its care or its services, then it does not need to get a
license.

ROBERTS: Since Ford accepts donations to his church instead of fees, he
escapes government oversight.

MAYER: The only way this agency could go in is if there are validated
reports that we receive of abuse or neglect, because we have to follow the
law and the law says you have to have a complaint of abuse and neglect
before you can go out and investigate something.

ROBERTS: Ford has tried to sue the state of Louisiana, alleging state
agencies conspired to close down his school. Last month a federal judge
dismissed the suit. The judge's ruling describes how over the years state
authorities got complaints about abuse and neglect at Ford's school. One
time they couldn't find the children they wanted to talk to, so they gave up
the investigation.

Few on the outside know for sure what goes on at New Bethany. Tracy, who
doesn't want to give her last name, can testify to what went on there 20
years ago. Back then Ford had both boy's and girl's schools.

She recalls a kind of boot camp for God. The children lived in dormitories.
There day was a mix of chores, Bible studies and schoolwork.

Children who spoke out or broke the rules got spanked with a wooden paddle.

TRACY, FORMER STUDENT AT REVEREND FORD'S EARLIER PRIVATE,
RELIGIOUS-ORIENTED
SCHOOL: It was always behind closed doors and we didn't talk about it. We
just would hear you know the crying and the screaming.

ROBERTS: But Tracy says he looked up to the Reverend Ford, the charismatic
preacher who runs New Bethany.

TRACY: His services are incredible. They move you. They're an experience
that everybody should experience in their lifetime.

I'm not saying -- I mean to me that was the best part.

ROBERTS: Even so, after seeing what she was like on a family outing, her
parents decided not to take her back to Ford's school.

TRACY: I would not put on a pair of pants. They were of the devil. The TV, I
wouldn't go near it. The radio was considered sin to me. I was like just
totally frustrated. I just wanted to sit in my bedroom and cry because I
just felt so scared being in the outside world.

ROBERTS: The Grises fear their nephew Matthew might suffer the same kind of
anguish. Despite the obstacles, Payson and Charlene Grise say they won't
give up the fight to bring Matthew back to Colorado.

They go through each day they say with one thing in mind.

PAYSON GRISE: I think about freeing Matthew. That's mainly all I think
about.

CHARLENE GRISE: I would just say we love you Matt. That's one thing that I
think he needs to know. He's sitting in a place and probably feels totally
abandoned by almost everyone around him.

ROBERTS: Since they can't see their nephew, the Grises really don't know
what the boy thinks. And the Reverend Ford won't allow anyone outside New
Bethany the chance to find out.

Mark Roberts, NPR News, Silt, Colorado

This is a rush transcript. This copy may not be in its final form and may be
updated.