EP12: Surviving a Polygamous Cult, Family Abuse, and Finding Purpose Through Kindness in Motion

This Is Tineise’s StoryIn this episode of the Irene Podcast, host Hope interviews Tineise Davenport, with the nonprofit Kindness in Motion. Tineise explains she grew up in a polygamous cult environment connected to multiple fundamentalist groups (including Centennial Park, FLDS/Colorado City, and the AUB), describing secrecy, fear of government, and strict gender expectations that discouraged girls from asking questions. She recounts that in July 1993, when she was five, her mother was life-flighted to a Salt Lake City hospital after an incident Tineise was later told involved falling from a truck, a story she came to believe did not make sense. Tineise describes how her father remarried in September 1993 to Lenora (his secretary), who moved in with five children while still married to someone else, and how Tineise’s mother later returned home awake but paralyzed and unable to speak. Tineise details severe abuse in the household, including witnessing her brother being beaten unconscious, and her mother had to watch the abuse while immobilized; her mother died when Tineise was seven. As a neglected and angry child, Tineise began sneaking out and spending time with boys from Colorado City who later became known as the “Lost Boys,” running away multiple times; at 13 she reached Hurricane, was arrested for breaking into a friend’s family’s house, and was sentenced to two weeks in juvenile detention. A guardian ad litem, Angela Adams, investigated abuse concerns and helped place Tineise in her maternal grandmother’s custody at a remote polygamist-affiliated ranch in the Utah desert, where Tineise learned independence skills but later returned to her father and ran away again. Between roughly 15–18, she describes heavy drinking, smoking, living with or around Lost Boys in St. George, and feeling abandoned, while noting an uncle helped her by providing a car even though she was unlicensed. Then Tineise became pregnant and says her daughter “saved” her by prompting her to stop drinking and smoking and focus on being a mother; she later left the child’s father around the time her daughter was one due to an unhealthy relationship. Tineise also shares she learned years later that her mother had planned to tell Tineise’s father she wanted a divorce shortly before the trip in 1993. Tineise will be back to continue her story and connect it to her nonprofit. Tineise briefly describes Kindness in Motion as focused on community connection linking people in need with those who can help and “bringing back the village” motivated by her belief that spreading love and kindness helps people heal.00:47 Growing Up in a Polygamous Cult: The Groups, Secrecy, and Control04:13 1993: Mom’s “Accident,” Hospital Visit, and a Sudden New Wife07:43 Mom Returns Home Paralyzed: Living Through Abuse and Silence14:19 Angry Childhood & Neglect: Sneaking Out, Being Raised by Siblings20:03 Lost Boys & Desert Nights: Disappearing to Survive25:50 Arrested at 13: Breaking & Entering, Court, and Juvenile Detention28:21 New Custody, New Isolation: Life at Sanctuary Ranch32:43 Found Family: Living with the Lost Boys (and an Uncle Who Helped)38:01 Two Weeks Before 18: Pregnancy That Turned Her Life Around40:07 Motherhood, Leaving a Bad Relationship, and Becoming Like Her Mom43:19 Wrap-Up: Kindness in Motion + Next Episode part 2Kindness In Motion:WebsiteInstagramCheck out Irene Cares on other platforms:- Irenegpt.ai- Instagram- TikTok- Youtube