Rory Feek Responds to Legal Threats Over 'Family Dispute' as He Denies Claims Daughter Is Unsafe and Slams 'Cult' Ties

When singer Rory Feek married his young daughter’s teacher in July, eight years after the tragic loss of his wife Joey Feek, it seemed the family had finally found a happy ending.

But just weeks later, Rory’s two grown daughters began to tell a different story. In a new interview with PEOPLE, Heidi Feek reveals that she and her sister Hopie are considering legal action against their father, who they claim has cut off contact with their youngest sister Indiana, 10, and put her in danger — while Rory claims the situation a “family dispute” that is overblown.

“This is a devastating change for her, because we’ve been in her life since the day she was born,” says Heidi. “She even came to us once a month for most of her life.”

Heidi, Indiana and Hopie Feek.

Heidi Feek/Instagram

Rory, meanwhile, wrote in a blog post titled “love, dad” and shared on Saturday, August 31 that his eldest daughter’s claims “broke my heart” and that Indiana had “never been more loved or cared for than she is right now .”

Rory, 59, found success with second wife Joey as the duo Joey + Rory, and in 2014 they had a daughter, Indiana “Indy” Boone. When Joey died of cancer in 2016 at age 40, Heidi, 37, and Hopie, 35, “developed a special maternal bond” with Indy, who has special needs, according to the GoFundMe page.

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Over the years, Indy has made regular appearances on Heidi’s Instagram, as they have spent quality time together during visits to Heidi’s home in Alabama. When Hopie got married in 2018, Indy was even a flower girl.

Heidi tells PEOPLE that about three years ago, things changed. Suddenly, she says, they were no longer allowed to FaceTime with Indy, which was how we “stayed connected to her.” However, Rory recently claimed she switched to a flip phone, so she says the sisters “weren’t upset” at first.

Then, Heidi says she and Hopie were no longer able to send pictures or videos to their little sister.

“We supported his decision because we were still able to talk to her on the phone and she continued to visit us in Alabama,” says Heidi. “But things got worrisome when Rory started canceling her visits to Alabama without moving. Finally he said she was no longer allowed night visits, without explanation. After that, we only got to see her three times: her 10th birthday, one dinner, and the Homestead Festival in June – when we last saw her. Now she won’t let us talk to her on the phone and won’t answer my messages.”

Hopie Feek, Indy Feek and Heidi Feek.

Heidi Feek/Instagram

Rory admitted in his blog post that Indy “absolutely” misses her sisters and “constantly asks about them and would love to see them.”

He said that while his youngest can talk to Heidi and Hopie anytime, he confirmed that she is no longer allowed to spend the night with them. The singer wrote that he stopped letting Indy sleep over “because they refused to respect my wishes while she was there.”

In the post, Rory said that his and Heidi’s different worldviews are at the heart of their disagreement as Heidi and Hopie have different ideas about entertainment that they “want to expose [Indy] to.”

“But Indiana is my daughter and I know what Joey would want, and I stand firm on not compromising the values ​​and principles that are important to me in raising Indy,” he wrote. “I tell her that hopefully soon we’ll all be together again and she can talk to them and see them again. I look forward to that day almost as much as Indy does.”

In recent months, Heidi says she has grown increasingly concerned for Indy’s safety following an incident in which the child was allegedly left unattended.

“She wandered into traffic on Highway 431, terrified and lost, until a stranger found her and brought her home,” says Heidi. “Instead of dealing with the danger she was in, my dad used this traumatic incident to create content that raised his public image.”

In an article published in Plain Values ​​magazine in May, Rory talks about the incident, writing that he quickly looked for Indy as soon as he realized she was missing and was relieved when she returned home in the passenger seat of an unknown car. “With tears in my eyes, I just held her tight, so thankful she was okay,” he wrote.

Meanwhile, Heidi also expressed concern about Indy being “left to the care of the group,” as she wrote in an Instagram post on Aug. 29.

Taste of Country, which first reported the story, identified the group as Homestead Heritage, which calls itself an “intentional Christian community based on agriculture and crafts,” and interviewed multiple people with ties to the group.

Heidi Feek and Indiana.

Heidi Feek/Instagram

A comprehensive report published in Texas Observer 2012 alleged years of abuse within the community, including sexual abuse of children. In a statement shared on its website, Homestead Heritage called the media reports “defamatory” and said some people are trying to “use the public media as a tool to advance their own goals.”

“False accusations even include the claim that we tolerate and cover up the sexual abuse of minors,” the statement said, adding: “In every case of abuse we have ever encountered, it was our ministry that exposed and reported the crime.”

Heidi says that Indy was left in the care of the Homestead branch in Montana while Rory and his new wife Rebecca went on their honeymoon.

Rory said in her blog post that while on her honeymoon, Indy stayed with two families who both have children she is close to, and that she had a great time.

“I’m not a perfect father, but I’m not an idiot either,” he wrote.

Rory also denied that Homestead is a “cult” and admitted that while every organization has “bad apples”, he has only had positive experiences with the group.

Homestead did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.

For Heidi, Rory’s actions echo a trauma from her childhood. She says she and Hopie were told their mother didn’t want to be in their lives — and they say they only recently learned that wasn’t true.

“When we started getting cut off from Indy, I couldn’t shake the feeling that it had all already happened,” she says. “Then I found my mom and called her. She has always wanted to be a part of our lives and has been waiting my whole life to share her story with me. I now realize that it is my duty to ensure that history does not repeat itself.”

In his blog post, Rory denied Heidi’s account of events.

“All this to say that I know this has not been an easy life for Heidi and Hopie,” he wrote. “They spent most of the first fifteen years of their lives without a mother, and the one they did welcome finally passed away young, just when they started getting closer. And although they have recently reconnected with their birth mother, which I’m so glad to hear, it sounds like she has a whole other side to the story she shared with them, saying that I kept them from being with her all these years. I hope that one day they will give me a chance to share my side of the twenty years I spent raising them on my own, instead of just being accused of something without any chance to answer.”

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Heidi’s attorney did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request.

“This process is complex, emotionally draining and incredibly expensive. They would not be fighting this battle unless it was absolutely necessary to keep Indy safe,” the page reads.

According to GoFundMe, Heidi and Hopie are raising money for legal fees “to secure Indy’s future,” because she “deserves to be in a safe and stable environment where her well-being is a top priority,” Heidi wrote on Instagram.

“[If I could see her] I would say to her what I said to her at the Homestead Festival: ‘I love you, I miss you, and I’m doing everything I can to see you. I’m sorry if my actions get you in trouble, but I’ll never stop fighting for you,’ says Heidi. “She said okay and hugged me.”

While it remains unclear whether Heidi has yet to sue her father and why, Rory said in his post that Child Protective Services showed up on his doorstep earlier this year saying there were reports that Indy “was being neglected, along with other allegations. ”

“The situation escalated to the point where they were recording conversations they had with her and getting her to do it so they could find ammunition to use against me, and it became clear that Heidi didn’t have Indiana’s best interests at heart – she was looking for revenge and a way to hurt me, no matter the cost, and I was no longer going to let Indiana be a part of it,” he wrote of his older daughters.

In response to Rory’s blog post, Heidi shared an open letter to her father with PEOPLE in which she said she and Hopie are happy to hear from him because they’ve been trying to reach him for “months.”

“Love is action not words. We forgive you for your unkind words. You called us cowards in your blog post for not standing up to you. We forgive you,” she wrote.

Elsewhere in the letter, she wrote that she felt “heartbroken” by Rory’s claims that Indy “has never been more cared for than now”. Her husband Dillon also chimed in, saying that when Indiana stayed with them in Alabama, he “never let her look at the screens” as a means of respecting Rory’s wishes, but he did let her listen to Disney songs and Whitney Houston on his iPhone.

“Love is action. And we love our little sister Indiana more than anything in the world,” Heidi and Hopie wrote. “So we’re taking action.”

Rory wrote that while Heidi’s accusations over the past few months “broke my heart”, he initially did not respond out of love for his children and fear of hurting them.

“I know they are angry and frustrated and want justice for the wrongs they feel have been done,” he wrote. “But if I’ve learned anything in my almost 60 years, it’s that it doesn’t work like this… I’ll readily admit that I wasn’t a perfect father when they were young, but I tried to be good. And I continue to do my best for Indiana every day.”

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Source: HIS Education