Rory Feek’s Daughter Heidi Sued by Faith-Based Community for Defamation. She Calls It an ‘Attempt to Scare Us Into Submission’

Homestead Heritage has filed suit against Heidi Feek amid a family dispute involving the care of her 10-year-old sister Indiana

Rory Feek, Indiana Feek, Heidi Feek and Hopie Feek. Photo: Rory Feek/instagram

Rory Feek’s eldest daughter Heidi has been sued for defamation amid a family dispute involving the care of Rory’s youngest daughter Indiana — but says she will continue to speak out for the sake of her sister.

Heidi and her father, a singer-songwriter who rose to fame with the duo Joey + Rory, have been at odds over the care of Indiana, 10, in recent months. Rory has barred Heidi from contacting her sister due, he says, to their differing worldviews. 

Amid her fight to reopen a line of communication with Indiana, Heidi, 37, has claimed that the child is not safe, as Rory, 59, and his new wife Rebecca are raising her within Homestead Heritage, a faith-based community that Heidi claimed in an Instagram post has a “troubling history of child abuse” — an allegation the group strenuously denies.

On Sept. 16, Homestead Heritage sued both Heidi and the Taste of Country website, which in late August published an article containing allegations of child abuse within the community, which the group maintains are “unequivocally false.” The complaint, filed in federal court in Alabama, was obtained by PEOPLE.

“These articles and the social media postings they are based on contain multiple falsehoods that misrepresent our church family and the values we uphold,” Homestead spokesperson Dan Lancaster said in a statement. “The false and harmful lies propagated by the defendants have caused significant damage to our reputations and well-being.”

Heidi, meanwhile, said in a joint statement with her husband Dillon Hodges that she believes the lawsuit “is an attempt to scare us into submission.”

“If that is the case, it didn’t work. We’re confident that this lawsuit will open the door for others to share their stories. And I’m encouraged to see that more current and former members are speaking up every day. Your stories are our stories because my little sister’s story is still being written,” she said in a video shared to Instagram on Sunday, Sept. 29. “Together, we can ensure it’s a story of love, courage and justice.”

In response, Lancaster said in a statement that Homestead had “sought resolution in private” at first, but were “ignored,” “leaving us no choice but to take legal action to protect our church family from defamation, which directly threatens their livelihood and way of life of our craft, farming and artisan community.”

Heidi’s public statements against Homestead began in July, when Rory married Indiana’s former schoolteacher, a woman named Rebecca. The complaint alleges that while on their honeymoon, the couple left Indiana in the care of what Heidi described on social media as “an unfamiliar family,” which Heidi believed to be an “inappropriate place” for the child.

Rory Feek and Indiana Feek in 2019.Jason Kempin/Getty

Days later, per the complaint, Heidi, a musician, began sharing news clips to her social media that claimed Homestead had a history of child abuse — reports that the community claims are “false and defamatory.” (For his part, Rory said in a blog post that while he was on his honeymoon, Indiana stayed with two different families, both of whom have children she is “very close to.”)

In the complaint, Homestead concedes there was a “single isolated incident” in 2005, in which a member “admitted he had engaged in wrongful activity with his own daughter.” That member admitted his crime to a pastor, and Homestead says they reported the matter to authorities. He was later sentenced to 35 years in prison after pleading guilty to aggravated sexual assault of a child, according to a local news report.

Another former member, Joseph Ratliff, was sentenced to 100 years in prison for aggravated sexual assault and indecency with a child, according to the Texas Observer, though Homestead previously said in a statement that Ratliff’s crimes were reported to authorities “immediately” by members of the church and a minister, and it is unclear whether he was a church member at the time he engaged in the crime.

“These isolated incidents, none of which involved Homestead Heritage leadership and all of which were properly handled by Homestead Heritage, have led critics to generate false stories regarding Homestead Heritage,” the complaint reads. “Contrary to… media reports, the leadership of Homestead Heritage was integral to bringing the perpetrator to justice.”

The complaint also mentions Heidi calling Homestead member Daniel Brandstadt, who is present in Rory and Rebecca’s wedding photos, a “fugitive” in an Instagram post on Aug. 31. Per the suit, Brandstadt is not avoiding criminal charges, but is party to a pending civil case.

Homestead Heritage states they sent Townsquare Media, which owns Taste of Country, a demand to retract their story on Aug. 29, and Heidi received one about a week later. The story remains live.

Heidi, Indiana and Hopie Feek.Heidi Feek/Instagram

Homestead is suing for defamation, unjust enrichment (they allege Heidi has benefited from increased social media engagement since speaking out), intentional infliction of emotional distress and false light invasion of privacy. They’re seeking at least $250,000 in compensatory damages and a trial by jury.

“Sometimes, when you shine a light in the darkness, you see something you wish you hadn’t seen. And when that happens, you have a choice. You can walk away quietly or you can call all your friends and have them bring their flashlights,” Hodges said in the Instagram statement. “We’re making this video today because we’ve made our choice. And we can’t do this alone. We’re calling on our friends because we desperately need your help. It’s tough to even estimate the cost, but with all the fees associated with a federal case, our defense could well exceed six figures, so we’re considering all available options.”

Heidi previously told PEOPLE that she filed legal documents against Rory in early September, and Homestead Heritage’s complaint says the filings are looking to make “changes to [Indiana’s] custodial agreement.” Indiana lives with her father in Columbia, Tenn., while Heidi lives in Florence, Ala.

Homestead, per the complaint, is a “Christian community that celebrates its faith by pursuing a simple, agrarian lifestyle.” There are about 1,200 members of the church, and 200,000 people visit each year for various events, including a craft village, country markets and a fall harvest festival.

Rory Feek; Heidi and Hopie Feek.Getty;Rory Feek/Instagram

It was founded in 1973, and is currently comprised of 240 families. The complaint says recent statements about the community have “amplified negative effects extending to every part of their members’ lives beyond the reputational harm and actual losses to Homestead Heritage itself.”

For his part, Rory addressed his involvement with Homestead in a blog post on his website in August, plainly rebutting accusations that the community is a “cult.”

“Those folks are just living in a way that other people don’t like or understand, and it’s a whole lot easier to call something a cult and dismiss it than it is to look deeper into and actually find out what it is they are doing and why they’re doing it,” he wrote.

He touted the positives that Homestead has had on him and his family, but admitted that “there are always going to be bad apples” in large groups.

Heidi, meanwhile, has told PEOPLE she will do anything for her younger sister. She and her sister Hopie are currently raising money to pay their legal fees on GoFundMe.

“I really just want to be able to be in my little sister’s life and I can’t. I’m trying to do the right thing,” she said.