Children In The Tony Alamo Ministries
Most of the children born into the Tony Alamo Ministries have no birth certificates or legal identification. Unless there is a complication in the delivery of a child, all children (infants) are born using a midwife (who is also devoted to the group) in the home.
There is no way to prove how many children are born into the group or how many die because of this blatant disregard for the legal system. Unfortunately, when the children become adults and leave the group, they have no way of proving their identity.
This is another tactic to keep people under the control of Tony Alamo. Without proper identification it is nearly impossible to establish ones self into society. The task to obtain the documents needed is daunting, to say the least. With no identity one can not get a job, get a loan (no credit history), or buy a car, a house, or anything else that they need to live life outside of the group.
Due to this form of control, it is understandable why so many choose to stay.
It is also a fact that the children in this totalistic group are receiving a sub-standard education, if they are being educated at all. The government has no way of proving that there were children born, so how can they determine if they are being educated?
Tony Alamo claims that he is the President and principal of the American Association of Non-Denominational Christian Schools. However, it is just another one of his fictitious identities.
When Susan Alamo was alive the Foundation School used the Abeka book curriculum and it was an important part of the church’s testimony to the fact that the children received a good education. Unfortunately, after Susan’s death, Tony slipped deeper into his anti-Catholic paranoia and he eliminated many subjects from the Georgia Ridge School that he believed to be tainted by the Catholics, such as science and history. Eventually, he decided it was more important for the boys to work or pass out tracts so getting an education took a backseat.
It is also to Tony Alamo’s advantage that the children do not receive the required standards of education since this benefits him by keeping them uneducated and under his control. Once they become teenagers they are sent to work and are told that they have no need for an education in order to serve the Lord.