The website for an orphanage with deep ties to Missouri makes no attempt to explain or assign blame for numerous accounts of abuse — revealed in a nonprofit's independent investigation released on Nov. 12 — against the children in its care.
Instead, nearly 60 years after its founding, all that remains of Niños de México is a statement on its homepage acknowledging “the investigation of our past practices and current systems” and an aim “to find truth and clarity surrounding allegations of abuse and other misconduct.”
“That investigation has concluded,” the statement continued. “It is with heavy hearts that the board of Niños de México has decided to end our ongoing ministry effective immediately.”
It’s a response that still angers Julie Heifner, who volunteered and worked at Niños in various positions from 2010 to 2019. She’d first learned of Niños through her church in Fenton and eventually devoted nearly a decade of her life to mission work and caring for the orphanage’s children.
Now, she calls the orphanage’s decision to close “incredibly cowardly.”
“No repentance, no acceptance of fault or guilt, no public apologies, no acknowledgement of the victims,” she said. “When I read that, I thought, ‘You can take the microphone and walk off the stage and say, ‘We're done,’ but that does not absolve you from any of the consequences that have been set into motion.’”
Heifner is part of a group of former Niños supporters-turned-whistleblowers who have spent recent years calling for an investigation of the 58-year-old institution.
Their ranks include Eric Miller, who began volunteering on mission trips to Niños as a high school student in 2011. In 2023, he began posting to social media and writing publicly about the multiple accounts of abuse brought to him by the orphanage's residents and victims. Later that year, he became a central voice in a report on the GRACE investigation by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Operated by a Franklin County-based charity, Niños depended on a network of donor churches for its funding. Like Heifner, Miller was introduced to Niños at his hometown church. After his first trips as a teen volunteer, Miller became a close supporter of the orphanage, forming bonds with the children and the organization’s various children's homes in Mexico City.
“When you think about an orphanage, you're not going to think of something like Niños,” he said. “Niños is absolutely a beautiful property, and, certainly on the surface, the children seemed to be happy.”
Unbeknownst to Miller, beneath that veneer lay a spiral of separate child sexual abuse cases stretching back to the late 1960s.
Eventually, facing pressure from Miller and other supporters, Niños contracted the nonprofit Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment to investigate the claims of abuse. The final report encompassed more than 250 pages, detailing allegations of child sexual abuse against 20 employees. The GRACE report’s list of accused perpetrators included Niños’ founders Wanda and Merlyn Beeman.
The number of perpetrators over a half-century of abuse named in the report shocked Heifner and Miller. The investigation had been a key demand echoed by survivors of abuse at Niños, along with other whistleblowers and former supporters — but the full picture of that abuse remains difficult to comprehend.
“There was so much that I learned in that report about what leadership knew, when they knew it, how many other people were reporting at the same time,” Heifner said. “Other employees, people in the community, people in the churches — when you see it in its totality, it's shocking. But it was also incredibly validating to read.”
Heifner also noted that the GRACE report included recommendations for change. The list includes items like cooperating with police and supporting survivors in legal proceedings. Instead, “they chose to close,” she said.
The closure leaves open the question of accountability. Steve Ross, the former executive director of Niños, appears in the GRACE report nearly 400 times.
Both Miller and Heifner told St. Louis on the Air that they separately tried to warn Ross on multiple occasions that there were cases of sexual abuse at the orphanage, only to be rebuffed, ignored or otherwise reassured that the incident was being handled.
In one case, Miller said he spent much of the summer of 2018 gathering reports on a “house parent” abusing one of the minor residents. He brought his findings to Ross.
“The initial contact that I had with the executive director about that claim made it clear that he didn't believe it and that he wasn't going to act on it,” Miller said. “I realized that we were not dealing with isolated incidents, we were dealing with a systemic pattern of abuse and nondisclosure. And that's when I decided to speak out.”
Miller has continued to write about Niños on his blog, “What's Wrong with Niños de México?” Days after the GRACE report’s release, Miller disclosed he had been contacted by “a victim of apparent sexual misconduct on the part of Steve Ross in the ‘90s while Steve was serving as a houseparent.”
Ross has not been criminally charged in relation to his actions at Niños. St. Louis on the Air reached out to Ross requesting comment for this story and the allegations of abuse. He did not respond.
Miller and Heifner said Ross and Niños’ leadership still have much to answer for. But whistleblowers are not the only voices calling for accountability.
A scathing, anonymous advertisement in the Jan. 8 edition of the Washington Missourian blasted “58 Years of Abuse” and named Ross, as well as Niños’ current and former board of directors.
Beneath the list of names, the advertisement concluded two, brief lines in bold print:
“Christians protect the children, NOT the predators.”
“Christians fight for children. Cowards walk away.”
To hear the full conversation about the downfall of Niños de México, listen to “St. Louis on the Air” on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube, or click the play button below.
“St. Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is produced by Miya Norfleet, Emily Woodbury, Danny Wicentowski, Elaine Cha and Alex Heuer. The production intern is Darrious Varner. The audio engineer is Aaron Doerr.
