Facility profile Mississippi

Bethesda Home for Girls

Later called Mountain Park Baptist Boarding Academy

Also known as Bethesda Home

Closed Forrest County, Mississippi

Bethesda Home for Girls was a program in Forrest County, Mississippi, operated by Roloff Homes. It closed in 1980.

About Bethesda Home for Girls

It closed in 1980.source It was run by Roloff Homes.source

Timeline

From the records: who ran it and the deals that moved it, its names, and the deaths, incidents, inspection findings, lawsuits and news stories on file. Point at an event, or tap "More about this", for the details.

19801987200119802001

  1. 1980

    1. DeathAugust 26, 1980

      Connie Irene Munson, 14, died here

      Died during escape attempt

      Connie Irene Munson, 14, died here August 26, 1980

      source

    2. Closed

      Closed

  2. 1987

    1. New name

      Renamed Mountain Park Baptist Boarding Academy

      It had been Bethesda Home for Girls.

  3. 2001

    1. Essential reportingDecember 1, 2001

      The History of Lester Roloff's Faith-Based Youth Homes and State Oversight Battles

      Texas Monthly: Pamela Colloff's history of Lester Roloff's Rebekah Home for Girls: the punishments survivors describe, and the decades of fights over whether Texas could license it.

      The History of Lester Roloff's Faith-Based Youth Homes and State Oversight Battles December 1, 2001

      The article documents the history of the Rebekah Home for Girls, a faith‑based residential facility founded by evangelist Lester Roloff, and describes disciplinary practices such as corporal punishment, isolation, and restraints.

      Read the article

As Bethesda Home for Girls

until 1987

Deaths on record

Lawsuits

News coverage

  • Texas Monthly Dec 1, 2001 Expose

    The History of Lester Roloff's Faith-Based Youth Homes and State Oversight Battles

    Essential reporting

    Pamela Colloff's history of Lester Roloff's Rebekah Home for Girls: the punishments survivors describe, and the decades of fights over whether Texas could license it.

    The article documents the history of the Rebekah Home for Girls, a faith‑based residential facility founded by evangelist Lester Roloff, and describes disciplinary practices such as corporal punishment, isolation, and restraints. It includes survivor accounts of physical and spiritual abuse and outlines the facility’s legal battles over state licensing and oversight.

  • The Kansas City Star Jul 15, 2021 Event

    ‘A big day’ for victims of reform school abuse as Parson signs Missouri oversight bill

    Governor Mike Parson signed House Bill 557, granting the state authority to register and inspect unlicensed Christian boarding schools in Missouri. The legislation requires health and safety inspections, background checks, and reporting of student information, aiming to address reported physical restraint and sexual abuse at facilities such as Circle of Hope and Agape Boarding School.

  • Post-Dispatch Nov 17, 2002 Expose

    Missouri's Unregulated Faith-Based Reform Schools Operate Without State Oversight

    Missouri has emerged as a destination for unlicensed, faith-based youth residential facilities due to exemptions from state regulations and oversight. Former students from programs such as Mountain Park Baptist Boarding Academy have reported instances of mistreatment and restrictive conditions, while facility operators and parents defend the programs' strict disciplinary and religious approaches.

Staff

Administration

As Mountain Park Baptist Boarding Academy

1987 to 2004

The record kept under this name

News coverage

  • St. Louis Post-Dispatch Dec 3, 2002 General

    Missouri Teen Reform Schools Mirror Mountain Park Practices and Resist State Oversight

    The article examines two newer Missouri-based teen reform schools, Thanks to Calvary and Agape Boarding School, which operate under the same fundamentalist Baptist doctrines and restrictive protocols as the Mountain Park Baptist Boarding Academy. Both facilities enforce strict daily schedules, limited family contact, and mandatory stays while actively rejecting state licensing requirements and oversight.

Staff

Administration

Notable staff

  • Nathan Day

    Elsewhere in the industry

    • Thanks to Calvary director

Videos

Bethesda Home for Girls In Petal Mississippi (2020-01-26) Watch on YouTube

Connections on the network map

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Names

Documents

From the Unsilenced archive

1,038 documents about Bethesda Home for Girls that Unsilenced collected and Kids Over Profits does not hold a copy of. They open on Unsilenced's Google Drive. Their whole folder: Bethesda Home.

Documents (1,038)

Wiki entries

Materials and links

Government records

From SCIAD NET.

Reference and research

From SCIAD NET.

Record updated . Generated from the Kids Over Profits facility database. Suggest a correction