I think you might be the exception to the rule on balance. Geography and socioeconomics play a role as well.

They are devoted Christians I've known these guys since I was in college. So is virtually everyone in my family except for me.

They FEARED losing something more than anything. Like "privileges" to participate in society or the fear they'd be "reported" at work for noncompliance.

Do you want to know if the church has reflected on its behavior during that time and plans to be a change agent in the event there's a repeat?

It's real easy:

Has the leadership made it clear to children that what happened was both WRONG and didn't work...and why that is so?

Do the children know they were done wrong by adults?

If they haven't then they have failed their God again and the children.

And they are inviting a repeat.

The children must know or rest assured they will also blindly submit in a spirit of fear.