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Family Values

Peter Frouman - Sat, 2005/02/19 - 9:09pm

Update (November 2005) — Additional information, including newspaper and magazine articles and court filings, is now available: xFamily.org: Tribunal de Menores de Mercedes - Cause number 32.202 1990-12-19

 

Here is a condensed version and a rough draft of a much longer story. In the next few weeks and months as I do more research using both primary and secondary sources, I will be writing a full and detailed account.

Timeline:

  • July 3, 1970: Cary Frouman joins the the Children of God in Los Angeles, California.
  • 1971: Ruth Elaine M. joins the Children of God in Ellenville, New York.
  • April 1972: Cary and Ruth Frouman are married in London, England.
  • March 1973: Emmanuel David Frouman is born in Athens, Greece.
  • February 1975: P. Frouman is born in Palermo, Italy.
  • April 1976: D. Frouman is born in Johanesburg, Republic of South Africa
  • July 1978: J. Frouman is born in southern France.
  • November 1978: The Frouman family returns to the United States.
  • October 1980: M. Frouman is born in Austin, Texas.
  • October 9, 1981: Cary and Ruth Frouman are divorced in Travis County, Texas. In regards to custody of the children, Ruth is appointed the Managing Conservator and Cary is appointed the Possesory Conservator and granted a minimum of biweekly visitation during the school year, 1 week during the Christmas holidays and 2 weeks during the children's summer school vacation and any other times agreed upon by both parties.
  • January 1982: Stuart Baylin and Ruth Frouman leave Austin, Texas with all the children. No forwarding address is left and the children are moved constantly to prevent their father from being able to find or visit them.
  • March 30, 1984: Stuart Baylin, Ruth Frouman and the Frouman children arrive in Asuncion, Paraguay. They soon move to Corrientes, Argentina and Cary Frouman is eventually informed of their mailing address. He sends gifts for all the children including a book with pictures of horses for Peter. After some debate and a prayer meeting to cleanse it of evil hitchiking spirits, Peter is allowed to keep the book. He also sends Ruth a copy of Deborah Davis' recently published book, Children of God: The Inside Story. Stuart Baylin burns the book in San Luis del Palmar before she has a chance to read it.
  • 1986: Ruth's eldest son Manoli is sent to Buenos Aires, Argentina.
  • December 1986: Ruth Frouman is diagnosed with breast cancer.
  • May-June 1987: Manoli and Peter Frouman attend the SATCC in Lima, Peru and later go to live in the Argentine Teen Combo overseen by Claire Borowik and Jose Manuel Sabatassos. At the SATCC, in a questionaire read by the top leadership of the Family International, Peter reports Stuart Baylins's history of violence against women and children and incidents of sexual contact between adults and children. These matters had been previously reported to regional leadership (including the perpertrators) when they occurred. Nothing is done in response to this report and the Family International continues to allow Stuart Baylin to be in the prescence of children. Ruth Frouman unsuccessfully attempts to leave the Family with her three youngest children. After her unsuccessful attempt, she is held in isolation in a warehouse in Corrientes, Argentina.
  • July 1987: Ruth Frouman decides to live and rejects
  • July 18, 1987: Ruth Frouman is kicked out of the Family and sent home alone without her five children. Almost immediately after her departure, Stuart Baylin takes the three youngest Frouman children to Montevideo, Uraguay. Ruth Frouman is not allowed to know the address or the phone number of the houses where her children are living in Montevideo and Buenos Aires.
  • October 1987: Peter is sent to Montevideo, Uraguay to live with Stuart Baylin.
  • November 18, 1988. Peter leaves Montevideo, Uraguay on a flight to Portland, Oregon with stops in Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, New York and San Francisco. A few months after his departure, Stuart Baylin takes the younger Frouman children to Bahia Blanca, Argentina.
  • November 19, 1988. Peter sees his father again for the first time in seven years.
  • Deecmber 1988: Peter goes to Chattnooga, Tennessee to live with his mother and his aunt.
  • June 1989: Manoli visits relatives in Tennessee, Georgia, Maryland, New York, and Oregon.
  • May 1990: Ruth asks Stuart again to bring all the children back to the United States. Stuart agrees and Ruth and her relatives send him money for airline tickets.
  • September 1990: Stuart Baylin arrives in the U.S. with only the eldest child. He tells Ruth the other children didn't want to come. He refuses to allow Manoli to spend time with his mother until fundraising goals have been met and states that fundraising is the primary purpose of their trip.
  • October 1990: Determined to get her children back, Ruth Frouman arrives in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Eventually she discovers that two of her children are living in Mar del Plata, one is living in Buenos Aires and one is in either Montevideo or Buenos Aires. She is allowed to see her children briefly in Mar del Plata but Stuart Baylin and the Family refuse to comply with her repeated demands for the return of her children.
  • November 1990: Ruth Frouman files a complaint seeking the return of her children with the Tribunal de Menores de Mercedes. Her sister and her brother-in-law are authorized to act on her behalf.
  • Deecmeber 1990: Causa 32.202 in the Tribunal de Menores de Mercedes is ratified. Judge Campora orders an investigation and that all four missing Frouman children be presented to the court. Ruth's health deteriorates and she returns to the United States.
  • February 1991: Ruth Frouman is hospitalized and slips into a coma. Peter visits her in the hospital and reads books to her.
  • March 12, 1991: Ruth Frouman dies at Erlanger Hospital in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Stuart Baylin and the The Family International continue to retain four of her five children, refuse to allow them to attend their mother's funeral and do not inform them of her death until months later.
  • April 13, 1993: Susan Claire Borowik and Stuart Baylin present the two eldest children to the court in Mercedes. It is discovered they have been living in Asuncion, Paraguay. Claire Borowik and Stuart Baylin refuse to tell the court where the younger Frouman children are. The two eldest Frouman children are taken into the custody of the state while the authorities search for their younger brothers.
  • May 5, 1993: Stuart Baylin has requested custody of the Frouman children. A social worker visits a two bedroom apartment in Don Torcuato where he claims they will be living.
  • May 14, 1993: Stuart's petition for custody of the Frouman children is rejected by the Argentine court. The second eldest Frouman child is repatriated to the United States and reunited with his father.
  • May 19, 1993: The eldest Frouman child is repatriated to the United States and reunited with his mother's relatives in Chattanooga and Atlanta. Soon after arriving, he gets a social security card, a job, a driver's license, a car and a General Equivalency Diploma.
  • May 1993: Stuart Baylin flees with the two younger Frouman children to Montevideo, Uraguay. September 1, 1993: Police in Buenos Aires, Argentina raid several Family homes. One of their objectives is to find the missing Frouman children.
  • September 1993: After the raids, Stuart Baylin takes the Frouman children to a hotel in Montevideo. He is advised by Family leaders to flee with the children to Brazil and Mexico and given money (including the $2000 emergency reserve of the home in Montevideo) to do so. Stuart Baylin and the missing Frouman children arrive in Mexico City.
  • February 1994: Emmanuel David Frouman dies in Orlando, Florida. The Family International refuses to allow his two youngest brothers to attend his funeral and does not even inform them of his death until several months later. For years afterwards, members and leaders of the Family Internaational spread false rumors that he committed suicide and even tell some people that he hung himself when in fact he died of pneumonia.
  • November 1996: Peter is reunited with his brother Jonathan in Austin, Texas.
  • July 1997: Peter is reunited with his brother Michael in Austin, Texas.

My father left the Family in 1979. My mother left the Family in 1987. Yet, their children remained in the group for many years after their parents left. For example, I left in November 1988 at age 13, two of my brothers left in April 1993 at ages 20 and 17, one left in 1997 at age 16 and another is still a member. This story seeks to explore how this happened.

In July 1987 my mother, Ruth Frouman, was excommunicated from The Family for the "sins" of not trusting in God to heal her from breast cancer and for trying to leave the group with her children. She arrived in Miami so disoriented and traumatized by her ordeal that she was detained by airport security until her mother and her brother arrived to take her home.

What happened that caused her to arrive in such a condition? One possible explanation is what Stuart and the Family did to her in the weeks and months preceding her departure in July 1987. Earlier that year, she tried to leave with her younger children but they found out where she had sought refuge and took her and the children back to the Family house in Corrientes on the highway near the sleazy motel. Stuart Baylin and Family leaders then kept her locked up in a warehouse for weeks until she agreed to leave without her children.

The friend she had gone to for help was Hector, a wealthy Argentine who had sometimes helped with small financial problems and often let her bring 15 kids to use his swimming pool. I remember him fondly. He gave my mom a Paul Theroux travel book (The Old Patagonian Express ) which I got to read (one of only a few 'System" books I recall reading from 1982-1988, the other one was an autobiography - "Is that it?" by Bob Geldof of the Boomtown Rats). Hector was somehow involved with the local Coca-Cola bottler/franchise and seemed amused at the Family prohibition of soft drinks - "Coke is not against Christ" he always used to say. I think he felt sorry for us kids. Anyways, this is where my mom sought refuge with her children while she planned to figure out how to leave with them - there was also the matter of her two older children (Manoli and I, ages 12 and 14) in Buenos Aires. At some point, she made the mistake of calling the home where Stuart was and disclosing her location. Stuart Baylin came and got her and the children and took them back. Next to the house in Corrientes was a large two-story warehouse that was being converted into living quarters using 2x4s and sheets of wood panelling to construct walls. According to one of my siblings, both he and my mother were held in this warehouse for weeks while they were on a strict program of correction that included being required to fast and read Mo Letters. I don't know everything that happened there but I believe she was tormented psychologically, emotionally and physically until they drove her crazy and could get her to leave without her children.

For weeks, they tormented her and did everything they could to destroy and weaken her mind, her body and her will to fight back. Finally, on July 18th, 1987, they decided that the almost 16 years of her life (total lifetime:37 years, 5 months and 12 days) she had given the Family was not enough. They wanted her children as well. It makes one wonder what kind of sick and twisted monsters can defend kidnapping and tormenting a terminally ill woman and then taking away her children.

Not long after my mother returned to the United States, her three younger children went to Montevideo, Uraguay with Stuart Baylin. At the time, I and my older brother Manoli were living in the "Teen Combo" in Buenos Aires run by Susan Claire Borowick (aka Borowik) and her husband, Cacho. As an ex-member, my mother was not allowed to know the address or the phone number of the houses where her children were living.

I decided I had to leave when Stuart Baylin told me that I should forget about ever seeing my mother again, that she was a backslider and that I should burn the few pictures of her and letters from her I had. After my mother left Argentina, she frequently sent her children letters, cards and gifts (including money for their support). We never saw any of this as Stuart Baylin usually threw away her letters and cards without giving them to us. The money she sent was not used for its intended purpose and we were forced to go out begging and selling tapes and posters to raise money. Fortunately, I was able to escape to visit her and my father on November 18th, 1988. I ended up staying in the United States and having a few years of a "normal childhood." My four other brothers were not so fortunate.

For many years my mother tried to negotiate with The Family and believed their promises that her children would be returned. In the last few years of her life, all my mother ever wanted was to see her children together again. She was willing to do almost anything she could to get them back. But her former mate, Stuart Harris Baylin (a disgusting and violently abusive man who abused and terrorized her children for many years and was not their real father but merely an abusive stepfather) refused to return her children and insisted on keeping them in The Family against the wishes of both the children's mother, Ruth E. Frouman, and the children's father, Cary L. Frouman.

In mid-1990, Stuart Baylin promised to finally return to the U.S. with all the children for a "visit" as my mother persistently demanded. Instead, he broke his promise and in September 1990 came only with the eldest child, Manoli, then 17, for a fundraising trip. I believe that my mother's relatives sent him money for airfare for all the boys and he misapropriated these designated funds. He didn't allow Manoli to spend much time with his mother and in desperation, so she could spend some time with him, my mother told Manoli they were going shopping and drove him 5 hours without stopping to her aunt's home in Kentucky. My mother was furious over Stuart's lies, deception, cruelty and adamant refusal to let her see her children even as she was dying. In October 1990, she returned to Argentina to find her children. She didn't even know where they were living as this was considered "selah." She had to find out where they were living from a police investigator. In November 1990, with some assistance from her sister, Rita Mckee and her brother-in-law, Arturo O. Godoy, she filed a complaint with a court in Argentina that the Family refused to return her four children.

I am still trying to get all the Argentine court records related to the Frouman case. I have been able to find the 127-page majority decision of the Appeals Court of San Martin dated December 13, 1993 in the case of "Causa no. 81/89 CAVAZZA, Juan C. y otros s/Inf. arts. 125, 139, 140, 142 inc.1, 142 bis, 210, 293 del CP y art.3 Ley 23592 Juzg. Fed. San Isidro 1-Sec. 2 Sala II-Reg. no 2." This decision mentions the Frouman case three times. First on page 22, we find the following:

A escasos meses de estos sucesos -el 19/12/90-, se dedujo la denuncia ante el Juzgado de Menores de Mercedes (Causa N. 32202), en representación de la madre de cuatro niños que habían desaparecido y que ella dejara a cargo de su concubino antes de tener que partir hacia su país de origen para tratarse una enfermedad terminal. El sr. Juez de la causa, tras propiciar la intervención del Servicio de Inteligencia de la Policía de la Pcia. de Buenos Aires con el fin de buscar a los cuatro menores Frouman, obtuvo como resultado parcial la presentación de dos de ellos (ver las fs. 1454/1458 del citado expediente) y mantuvo la averiguación del paradero de los otros dos, presumiendo su retención en alguna de las residencias del referido grupo "La Familia" que pensaba ubicadas en Mar del Plata (idem fs. 17/8, 211, 521 y 980), San Isidro, (fs. 347/51), Salta, Tucumán y Jujuy (fs. 385 vta.), Florida, Vicente López, Pilar y Capilla del Señor (fs. 395, 398, 405, 419 vta. y 460), Hurlingham, (fs. 431), Bahía Blanca (fs. 490/504 y 839/842), Rosario (fs. 507/518 y 523/552) y Capital Federal (fs. 592). Motivo por el cual, recabó información sobre el estado de las diversas causas judiciales abiertas en los últimos años para investigar las denuncias sobre presuntos delitos que se habrían perpetrado contra la honestidad y la libertad de los niños que residían en las viviendas de la comunidad -salvo de los mencionados Juzgados provinciales en lo Criminal y de Menores del Departamento Judicial de San Isidro y del también aludido Juzgado Federal No. 1 de San Isidro (esta causa No. 81/89)-, recibiendo por respuesta las respectivas constancias legajales, de donde se desprende que: en la causa tramitada en el Juzgado Federal No. 1 de Bahía Blanca con el expediente No. 386/89, se dictó el sobreseimiento total y provisorio respecto de los cuatro procesados, ordenándose el archivo de las actuaciones el 23/5/90 (fs. 3185 del ppal.); la causa No. 2531/89 del Tribunal de Menores No. 2 de Bahía Blanca, se halla paralizada desde el 18/12/90 por una averiguación de paradero (fs. 613/692); en la causa No. 23.147 del Juzgado de Instrucción No. 31 de la Capital Federal, se dictó el sobreseimiento provisional el 14/08/92 (fs. 693/800); la causa abierta por el Juzgado de Menores de Córdoba fue archivada al "no constatarse que los menores que habitaban el inmueble (donde se llevó a cabo el procedimiento) estuvieran en una situación de peligro físico o moral" (fs. 2000 del expte. ppal.); la causa N? 3512 del Juzgado de Menores de Mar del Plata, tiene un último proveído fechado el 3/05/89 por averiguación de paradero (fs. 1008/1121); en la causa No. 1959 del Juzgado Federal de Comodoro Rivadavia, se dictó el sobreseimiento el 18/12/90 sin haberse procesado a persona alguna (fs. 144 del respectivo expte. que corre por cuerda fotocopiado); la causa No. 35401 del Juzgado en lo Penal No 2 de Mar del Plata se encuentra en trámite (fs. 1209); y en la causa que tramitara por ante el Juzgado en lo Penal de Faltas de la ciudad de Rosario (fs. 1193/1207), se impuso a los dieciséis procesados una pena de 30 días de arresto y el pago de multa de 6 JUS por incumplimiento de los mandatos legales, negocios no autorizados y explotación de la credibilidad pública, en concurso real (Expte. No. 2858/92 que corre por cuerda en 600 fojas fotocopiadas).

On page 32, one finds the following:

De Mario Torres sabe que abusó sexualmente y violó a mujeres menores -además de haberlo humillado públicamente mediante "abuso de autoridad"- (el nombrado Torres tampoco fue interrogado por estos atentados sexuales). 7.- Tras los primeros testimonios de estas cinco personas y lo declarado por el oficial de inteligencia policial provincial Com. Insp. Elpidio Hugo Gabutti (fs. 995), quien facilitó las direcciones de los hogares de "La Familia" en la zona noroeste del Gran Buenos Aires para ubicar allí a los Frouman (fs. 996)-, el sr. Juez de grado entendió procedente librar sendas órdenes de allanamiento respecto de diez inmuebles con el genérico objeto de "proceder al secuestro de todo elemento de interés y a la detención de quienes resulten responsables por el delito de asociación ilícita". Sin embargo, ninguno de los procedimientos realizados durante la noche del 1 de septiembre de 1993 sirvió para encontrar a los dos menores buscados y en cuatro de ellos -los llevados a cabo en Valle Grande No. 1444 de Florida (fs. 1177), en Ombú N? 859 de Don Torcuato (fs. 1181), en las cercanías de la fábrica "Suavegóm" sita en Capilla del Señor (fs. 1195) y en la calle Paraná No 662, piso 4 de Capital Federal (fs. 1218)-, sus resultados fueron negativos por la ausencia de ocupantes, por estar alquilados a terceras personas ajenas al grupo religioso en cuestión o porque, a la postre se estableció que la titular del inmueble era ajena a los delitos por los que resultó procesada (fs. 2268 vta.).

Finally, on page 99, there is another mention of the Frouman case:

Más confusa aún es la remisión a la figura del Art. 142 bis, segundo apartado, inciso primero, del Código Penal, que se formula en la parte resolutiva del decisorio recurrido y que nuestro fiscal también acompaña sin ninguna explicación, según aparece prevista a los fines de reprimir la sustracción, retención y ocultación de persona, agravada porque la víctima fuera mujer o menor de edad. Pensar que esa referencia se relaciona con la desaparición de los hermanos Frouman es imposible, en tanto fue un hecho que se reservó expresamente el Sr. Juez de Menores de Mercedes...

Ruth Frouman was allowed to see her children briefly in Mar del Plata, Argentina in October 1990. She was in a weakened physical condition and in a lot of pain and part of the price she had to pay for being allowed to see her children was having to listen to Stuart scream and yell at her for hours demanding that she sign over custody to him. She had no intention of doing this and in fact had a plan to bring all (or at least the younger three) of them back to the United States to live with her.

In a letter to Cary Frouman dated November 13, 1990, she wrote: "I am planning almost immediately to get a paper through the police here so that neither Stuart nor anyone else can take the children out of the country (Also to know their street address). I plan to do a grade check with Jon, Mike and Manoli because I don't have the slightest idea where they are at academically. D. is in 9th grade - that I know and he's planning to continue with the same course...By the way he only recently came to Argentina because he knew I was coming. Maybe people in Uraguay thought I would try and take him away. I just feel the time is getting closer for the children to be with me and that this one of the last oppurtunities to try and get those 3 boys at least, out of the group."

My mother died on March 12, 1991. After her death, my father and her relatives continued to try and find her children and bring them back to the United States. It took some time. In April 1993, Stuart Baylin and Claire Borowick returned the two older children, then aged 17 and 20, but failed to return the two younger children, ages 12 and 14, as the court ordered.

My brother Michael recalls that in April 1993, he and three of his brothers were living in Asuncion, Paraguay. Stuart Baylin took the children to Paraguay to hide them from Argentine law enforcement agencies who were still looking for them so they could be returned to the United States to live with their relatives as my mother intended. Then they got a message from Buenos Aires that there was some action in my mother's court case and they might need to return to Argentina. Stuart Baylin and Claire Borowick lied to the children by telling them that Arturo O. Godoy was demanding custody of them. In fact, as far as I know, Godoy's only involvement had been to present my mother's complaint to the court on her behalf in November 1990. No one ever considered giving him custody of any of the children and even if he had asked, which he did not, he never would have been granted custody. In 1992, my aunt separated from Godoy and fled to the United States with all her children. After that, no one in our family had any contact with her ex-husband, Arturo O. Godoy.

In any case, in the event of her death, my mother's plan was for the older children to live with their father if they wanted to or with some of her relatives. Her aunt Jean in Kentucky had also offered to take them all in. Several of her brothers and sisters had offered to help as well. If Stuart Baylin had not kidnapped them with help from Claire Borowick and others, they would have lived very comfortably in the United States with their relatives. They would not have had to live with a violent monster like Stuart Baylin or even Arturo O. Godoy. That was not what my mother wanted.

 

Anyways, Stuart and the Family lied to the children by telling them it was a choice between living outside the Family with Arturo 0. Godoy (like Stuart Baylin, he was also a violent child abuser and wife-beater) or in the Family with Stuart Baylin. Given these two choices, it's not surprising they would choose what appeared to be the lesser of two evils. Thus, in Asuncion, they made the children sign affidavits saying they wanted to be in the Family with Stuart. However, Claire Borowick soon relayed a message that they needed to go to Buenos Aires.

According to Michael, when they arrived in Buenos Aires, they were taken to a Family home known as the "Lighthouse." There, all four children and Stuart were placed in one room where they were required to stay all the time. In that room, Claire Borowick made them read and memorize pages and pages of statements and briefings. They were required to do role-playing and had mock question and answer sessions based on questions they might be asked by a social worker, judge, police officer, journalist, etc. Finally, it was determined that they were ready. However, despite the fact that the judge had specifically ordered that all four children be produced, Claire Borowick and Stuart Baylin decided to only bring the two older children. According to Michael and my other siblings who were there, the plan was to see what would happen. Michael notes that if the the two older children had not been immediately taken in, the plan was to bring in all the children the next day. But Stuart Baylin and Claire Borowick did not have legal custody of any of the Frouman children and there was no way any judge in Argentina (or anywhere else in the world) would have ever allowed them to have even temporary custody.

In May 1993, the two older Frouman children were returned to the United States to live with their relatives. Their tickets were paid for by repatriation loans from the U.S. Department of State. Before their departure, they had spent several weeks in a juvenile institutution in Buenos Aires while the authorities searched in vain for their two younger brothers. Michael has told me of at least one incident where they came very close. According to Michael, there was a two bedroom apartment in Buenos Aires that was being occupied by about 16 Family members (including Stuart Baylin and the two younger Frouman children). According to Michael, a social worker was scheduled to visit and inspect the home as they falsely told her that this apartment was where the Frouman children and Stuart would live if by some horrible perversion of justice, the child abuser Stuart Baylin were to be granted custody of the Frouman children. Before the social worker visited, they furious cleaned the apartment and moved everything around to hide the evidence that 16 people were living in a two bedroom apartment. While the social worker was visiting, the younger Frouman children and the rest of the people living in the apartment were at a park a few blocks away. Claire Borowick knew exactly where the younger Frouman children were all the time but continued to lie to the police and conspire with Stuart and others to conceal and abduct them.

According to Michael Frouman, soon after the two older Frouman children were returned to the United States in May 1993, Stuart Baylin took him and his brother to Montevideo, Uraguay. There they remained in hiding from the authorities and the police for several months. Then on September 1, 1993, several homes in Buenos Aires were raided by the police. As soon as they received noticed of the raids in Buenos Aires, they left the home in Montevideo and Stuart received instructions from Family leaders to flee with the children to Brazil and then to Mexico. The home in Montevideo gave Stuart Baylin some money including the reserve funds of about $2000 USD. Once again, they barely missed being found by the police. Just a day or two after they left, they saw a television news program of the home in Montevideo being raided by the police.

They were soon on their way to Mexico. However, rather than take one of the many direct flights from Uraguay to Mexico, Stuart Baylin took a more circuitous route with the kidnapped Frouman children. First they went to Chuy near the border of Uraguay and Brazil. After seeing their passports and noting some irregularities (the main one being that Stuart Baylin did not seem to have legal custody of the children), the border guards refused to let them into Brazil and instructed them to go to the consulate to apply for a visa. At the consulate, Stuart Baylin lied to the Brazilian officials and claimed to have legal custody of the Frouman children. As evidence, he showed them an Argentine marriage certificate from 1985 and a power of attorney he forced my mother to sign before she left in 1987. He didn't mention that he savagely beat my mother and her children for years, that his marriage to my mother was practically over in 1986, that my mother demanded the return of all her children in 1990, that she died in 1991, that in 1993 an Argentine judge again ordered Stuart to return all the children, that when he turned in two of them they were both sent back to the U.S. to live with their relatives, and that the children's father, Cary L. Frouman, was the only one who had legal custody of the children. After several hours of listening to Stuart's lies and possibly after the payment of a bribe, the Brazilian consular officials in Chuy relented and allowed Stuart Baylin and the kidnapped Frouman children to enter Brazil.

After entering Brazil, they took a bus to Porto Alegre and then to Sao Paulo. Then they took a flight to Mexico City and arrived there in mid-September 1993. According to Michael, upon arriving in Mexico, Stuart once again lied to the border officials and used fraudulent documents to deceive them. The kidnapper and child abuser Stuart Baylin was welcomed with open arms by the Family in Mexico. They continued to help him evade the law and hide the children. For many years, Stuart Baylin continued to retain the Frouman children outside the United States with the intent to obstruct the lawful exercise of parental rights. According to Michael, from 1993 until 1997, on numerous occasions he took the children from Mexico into the United States and back. Every time he took the children back into Mexico, he was violating U.S. federal laws. He was also violating the laws of Arizona and Texas. When questioned by U.S. border officials about whether he had lawful custody of the Frouman children, he always lied. This is not at all surprising to me, as lying, deception and breaking "Man's laws" is the standard operating procedure of the Family International. Except for brief trips into the United States, Stuart Baylin has lived continously in Mexico since September 1993. According to public records he used the addresses of Family homes in McAllen, Brownsville and San Antonio to receive mail (including a driver's license from the Texas Department of Public Safety), but he has been mostly absent from the state of Texas since 1982.

It was not until the summer of 1997 that Stuart Baylin returned the youngest of the kidnapped Frouman children, Michael Frouman. He was 16. At the time, I was a very poor college student living in a tiny apartment in what some people considered to be a dangerous neighbourhood. Yet Michael still wanted to live with me. A few months later we moved to more spacious accomodations and ended up living together for the next few years. Besides being reunited with his brothers and all his relatives (most of whom he had never met), he was also able to meet his biological father, Charles, and some of his sisters and their families.

My mother didn't want her children to grow up in The Family. She had witnessed their abuse with her own eyes and she knew what had happened to them and what might happen to them if they stayed in the group that had caused her and her children so much pain and suffering over the years. It took her a while to come to this realization but when she finally did, she tried to make amends by getting her children out. Unfortunately, The Family didn't want to let her children go and even after her death, refused to return them to their father and her relatives. It was her last dying wish that her children leave The Family. Instead, they were kidnapped. Stuart Harris Baylin (born March 12, 1955 in New York) would not have been able to abduct the children without assistance. Instead, he had help from The Family and people like Susan Claire Borowik (aka Borowick). The Family provided financial assistance, logistical support and specific directives to help Stuart kidnap my siblings. Claire Borowik, the current primary spokesperson for the Family International, was a key figure in coordinating the abduction of my brothers. I don't know how Claire Borowik (aka Borowick) can sleep at night knowing that she helped a violent and abusive sociopath take the children of a dying woman.

Some people, even quite a few ex-members, seem to think the raids in Argentina were wrong and based on exagerated or false claims and charges. I would like those people to know that nothing could be further from the truth. The facts are that the Family and certain members protected by the group's leaders kidnapped, sexually abused, tortured and exploited children. While I think the authorities in Argentina and elsewhere made some mistakes, I don't think the raids were wrong. Were children traumatized by their experiences in state custody and the medical examinations for signs of abuse? Certainly. But whose fault is that? Perhaps it is the fault of the adults who sexually and physically abused children. It is the fault of the leaders who practiced and promoted the sexual and physical abuse of children. The people who took pictures and made videotapes of children being sexually abused and exploited. The people who kidnapped children and conspired to conceal and kidnap children. The people who, when they knew months before of the impending raids, still refused to cooperate with the authorities and comply with court orders such as those to return kidnapped children to their parents. The people who for years sheltered and protected criminals.

It is these people, the child abusers and the criminals, who are the most responsible for any harm and trauma that the children experienced as a result of the raids. The people who bravely told the truth when almost everyone else was lying are heroes and what the children suffered is not their fault.

Response to the Family's statements about the abduction of the Frouman Children

The Family International now claims that in each case in Argentina, " "the allegations were unsubstantiated and Family members were found innocent of all charges." Perhaps by "innocent", in the Frouman case they meant to say that the Family helped the violent child abuser Stuart Baylin to abduct the Frouman children and to flee to Uraguay, Brazil, Mexico and the United States (in all of them, kidnapping children is still illegal), and that some child abusers like Claire Borowik (aka Susan Claire Borowick) lied to protect other child abusers like Stuart Baylin.

Note: Peter Frouman and frouman.net has a stringent policy against having any communication with child abusers. frouman.net does not publish or respond to correspondence or complaints it receives from child abusers and child molesters. However, since the current official primary spokesperson for the Family International, Susan Claire Borowik, is a known child abuser with a history of sending threatening and offensive letters to victims of child abuse, we have made a limited exception to our policy in order to respond to the statements she has made, in her role as a spokesperson for the Family International, about the abduction of the Frouman children and other matters.

  • Statement by the Family: "Is Uncle Sam Behind this Mess?

    The San Jose Mercury News, published one day earlier, on September 3, revealed: "Marquevich said the impetus for the investigation came from pleas by two American families who had failed to get the group to give back their children. Argentine court authorities said the U.S. embassy had shown great interest in the case." If the previously quoted press reports are accurate, that the American government was indeed interested in any of the children in our Argentine communities, all they had to do was ask us, and we would have provided them with whatever information they requested. Our communities in Buenos Aires were open to the public, receiving visitors daily." Source: "The Family in Argentina, A Church Under Siege," September 24, 1993, posted to soc.religion.christian at 3 Oct 93 08:37:28 GMT by Timothy Richards

  • Facts: The information was requested and never provided. The Family International and its representatives, including Susan Claire Borowik, were questioned numerous times about the whereabouts of the missing Frouman children and repeatedly lied and refused to tell the authorities, the parents and the relatives where the Frouman children were. Susan Claire Borowik, Stuart Harris Baylin, Mario Roberto Torres, Sofia Dow and others knew exactly where the missing Frouman children were located and refused to tell the authorities, the parents and the relatives of the children.

    Regarding another kidnapping case that concerned the U.S. Embassy in Argentina and the U.S. State Department: The Family International, Susan Claire Borowik and other members knew that in 1980, after his ex-wife was granted legal custody of their children, Brian Edward Pickus and his hired goons violently entered the home of his ex-spouse in the middle of the night and kidnapped his two children and that there was (and still is) an outstanding Interpol warrant from the state of Hawaii for his arrest. However, they never told authorities where the kidnapped Pickus children were located and where Brian Edward Pickus (aka Sam) was and for decades they sheltered and protected this fugitive from justice. Susan Claire Borowik was directly involved in this conspiracy to kidnap and conceal children and harbor fugitives from justice as the kidnapped Pickus children lived with her and she never notified the authorities in the United States or Argentina and she took specifics actions to ensure that the kidnapped children would not be found and that Brian Pickus would not be arrested. In February 2005, Brian Edward Pickus was still a member in good standing of the Family International and currently lives in Brazil.
  • Family Statement about the kidnapped Frouman children: "technically they were no longer minors" Source: Letter from Claire Borowik (publicaffairs@thefamily.org) to Peter Frouman sent on "Tue, 19 Apr 2005 18:30:26 -0400"

  • Facts: On April 13, 1993, the ages of the kidnapped Frouman children were 12, 15, 16 and 20. In Argentina, anyone under the age of 21 is considered a minor. Incredibly, Susan Claire Borowik apparently believes that children ages 12 to 20 are "technically not minors." This is not actually surprising as for many years the Family believed that children became adults as soon as they turned 12 years old.

    "Traveling with Minors - In Argentina, people over 21 years old are considered of legal age, therefore, any person less than 21 years of age wanting to enter the country alone or with a person that is not a legal guardian must present a written authorization signed by their mother, father, or guardian endorsed by the Argentine consul in the place of origin. The document can be included in the minor’s passport." Source: Argentina Handbook - Visas and Consulates

  • Family Statement about the kidnapped Frouman children: "they were technically not under the jurisdiction of a minors court."" Source: Letter from Claire Borowik(publicaffairs@thefamily.org) to Peter Frouman sent on "Tue, 19 Apr 2005 18:30:26 -0400"
  • Facts: Claire Borowik has obviously not read Chapter II, Article 10, paragraphs b and c of DECRETO LEY 10.067/83, Patronato de Menores. Apparently she also failed to read page 99 of the majority opinion of the Appeals Court of San Martin dated December 13, 1993 in the case of "Causa no. 81/89 CAVAZZA, Juan C. y otros s/Inf. arts. 125, 139, 140, 142 inc.1, 142 bis, 210, 293 del CP y art.3 Ley 23592 Juzg. Fed. San Isidro 1-Sec. 2 Sala II-Reg. no 2" in which the majority clearly states that the disappearance of the Frouman brothers is under the jurisdiction of the Tribunal de Menores de Mercedes: "Pensar que esa referencia se relaciona con la desaparición de los hermanos Frouman es imposible, en tanto fue un hecho que se reservó expresamente el Sr. Juez de Menores de Mercedes." Perhaps Ms. Borowik is confused and meant that some of the children were not IN the jurisdiction of the court because she and the Family helped the child abuser Stuart Baylin flee with the children to Paraguay, Uraguay, Brazil and Mexico.
  • Statement of Family International Spokesperson Susan Claire Borowik(publicaffairs@thefamily.org): "I was never intimately involved in anyway with him or any other minor at any period of my life, whether before joining the Family or after." Source: Letter from Claire Borowik (publicaffairs@thefamily.org) to Peter Frouman sent on "Tue, 19 Apr 2005 18:30:26 -0400"
     
  • Facts: In 1986 and 1987, Susan Claire Borowik sexually abused children that were entrusted to her care. No one has accused her of being "intimately involved" with minors because most rational people do not confuse the sexual abuse of children with intimacy.
  • Statement of Family International Spokesperson Susan Claire Borowik(publicaffairs@thefamily.org): "The false allegations you are posting are very libelous and injurious to me personally." Source: Letter from Claire Borowik (publicaffairs@thefamily.org) to Peter Frouman sent on "Tue, 19 Apr 2005 18:30:26 -0400"
     
  • Facts: The statements I have made about Susan Claire Borowik are true and based on the facts. Thus, they are not libelous. The facts are that Susan Claire Borowik has abused children and helped others abuse children and that she has also participated in criminal conspiracies to abduct and conceal children and to help child abusers and other criminals escape justice. Her actions have harmed not only children but herself. Thus, what is "injurious to [her] personally" is not me telling the world the truth about what she has done but rather the consequences of her crimes against children and others.

 



Court Filings

Note: This list is incomplete. More court filings will be added to it as they become available. Most documents are in Spanish. English translations will be added as they become available.