We are faced with the horrifying truth that a network of immoral individuals have engaged in what amounts to organized crime against children, Rob Vescovo, the Republican speaker of the Missouri House, wrote in a letter to U.S. Attorney Teresa Moore, urging her to employ the FBI to investigate. We are the best rehab . The troubled teen industry is a term used to refer to a broad range of youth residential programs aimed at struggling teenagers. The founders of Circle of Hope face around 100 charges, some alleging sexual abuse. It will stop providing service effective Jan. 20, according to a statement from the school for boys. A student at Agap Boarding School near Stockton, Missouri, performs push ups when his student guide ruled his clean up work was not good enough in September 2002. The charges come after the Missouri State Highway Patrol investigated allegations of abuse at the boarding school. W hen Andrew Breshears arrived at the Agap Boarding School in 2018, he was a sandy-haired 12-year-old who weighed less than 100 . He says one told local police that he had escaped from a Nazi camp.. Whatever the case, Clemensen has many allies where it perhaps counts the most: in the community. 24, 2021 at 10:23 AM PDT | Updated: Mar. I have concerns about every inch of that place, County Commissioner Sue Miller said. There is no cost to you, not even if you enroll in any school we might mention to you. As soon as Keri Ingle, a Democratic state representative from the Kansas City, Missouri, area and former child welfare investigator, read about the abuse allegations at Circle of Hope Girls Ranch last year, she called for hearings. Every year, thousands of young Mormons go on missions to try to recruit others into the religion. Nathan Papes/Springfield News-Leader/Imagn. A Christian boarding school in Missouri that's been under intense scrutiny over abuse allegations announced Wednesday that it will close later this month due to financial hardship. The term encompasses various facilities and programs, including youth residential treatment centers, wilderness programs, boot camps, and therapeutic boarding schools.. After a months-long investigation, the AGs office recommended 65 charges against 22 staff members, accusing them of abusing 36 children. (Image: KY3 / Video screengrab) Nineteen former students of an embattled fundamentalist boarding school in Missouri have made new claims of brutal physical and sexual abuse in court filings this month. Several former staffers opened up similar schools nearby: There was the Legacy Academy Adventures, on a property owned by David Smock, Agaps longtime doctor who would later be accused of molesting students; there was the Masters Ranch Christian Academy, which later opened two more campuses. Chapel was daily. By the time Askins contacted her, she had been in therapy for years, and was deeply enmeshed in an online community of former Agap and Circle of Hope survivors. She posted Askins video to TikTok, followed by a second post alleging her parents regularly beat her and had forced a student to eat until they threw up, then eat their own vomit. Carlson said he never witnessed abuse and credited the school with temporarily keeping him off meth and teaching him how to lay tile. MANY OF THE ALLEGATIONS AGAINST Agap staffers are easily found on podcasts and interviews on YouTube. If I can save one kid, its worth it to me.. The most surprising thing is that nothing has been done so far to change anything, Ingle said. Once they were done, staff members took away Schrags clothes and bedding, he said, and made him wear only a bathrobe and his boxers for two months. After abuse allegations at Circle of Hope Girls' Ranch, a religious boarding school near Agap, began spreading on TikTok last spring, the Cedar County Sheriff's Department opened an investigation, which the state attorney general joined and is ongoing. (Agap denies any knowledge of these allegations. Meanwhile, the husband-and-wife founders of Circle of Hope, Boyd and Stephanie Householder, face a combined 99 charges that include child abuse and neglect, sex crimes and other counts. An investigation by NBC News and Dateline found that multiple states have similar gaps in the oversight of religious boarding schools, leaving children vulnerable to abuse. The argument grew heated, he says, and the staffer told the kids they were going to Brown Town. Allen Knoll, who attended Agap from 1999 to 2001, looks at Alabamas law as a template of what we can do across the country. The only thing that has held back change in Missouri, he said, is a lack of public knowledge about what goes on inside these schools. The last time would be his graduation. As owners of the Circle of Hope Ranch, the couple faces 100 criminal abuse charges between them. For example, Arkansas allows boarding schools and child welfare agencies operated solely by a religious organization to be exempt from licensing. The Missouri House Committee on Children and Families issued a report in November concluding that there are numerous facilities in the state that have abused vulnerable children in their care, with no state oversight, for many years. Still, it was only a partial picture, based on interviews with former students and information from state officials, because Missouri doesnt keep track of how many religious boarding schools exist in the state. Ellie Hill Smith, a state lawmaker from Missoula, was concerned that this meant the state had no way of ensuring children were safe in these programs. Circle of Hope was opened in 2006 by Boyd Householder, a former Agap employee, as a school for rebellious teenage girls. ET): After publication of this article, Cedar County Sheriff James Jimbob McCrary disputed an account by former Agap student Lucas Francis. In response to a detailed list of follow-up questions, Clemensen, through Agaps attorney, says he has never abused any boy in the history of Agap, and denied that restraints were ever used for punishment. Agape Ranch plans out programs, fund raisers, and community outreach monthly. Court records show that David Earl Smock is wanted for assaulting children under 15 at the Agape Boarding School, a Christian private school in Greene County. ", "Today, the many victims who have come forth can rest assured that no more children will be hurt at Agape Boarding School," Bucklin said in a text. A judge ordered the school closed only to put the order on hold after Agap fired the staffer in question. The 100 Best Albums of 2022. Jim and Kathy Clemensen a married couple whom people call Brother Clemensen and Maam started Agap in the early 1990s. (KY3) - Missouris attorney general is investigating a second Cedar County boarding school. Anne Stych June 27, 2022. Full Gala Taping. The next evening, a man found Jacob begging for change at a neighboring county supermarket 10 miles from Blue Creek and called Clay County Child Protective Services. The video was posted Sunday by Robert Bucklin, who says he survived physical and sexual abuse at Agape Boarding School near Stockton. The Missouri AG launched a joint investigation with Cedar County authorities. Address . Missouri previously had virtually no oversight for religious boarding schools. 24 homes where foster children can receive the support they need in order to mature in all aspects of their lives. The school follows a fundamentalist Baptist belief system, according to a 2002 St. Louis Post-Dispatch article, and displayed a photo of the radio evangelist Lester Roloff, who died in a plane crash in 1982. First published on January 11, 2023 / 6:04 PM. Agape Ranch-courtesy photo. Where they stop looking to drugs, or their friends, and say to God, I need your help to feel better. If you dont save their souls, it aint going to stick.. Thats where someone went too far. The organization did not respond to requests for comment, but in presentations to the Legislature, the group repeatedly highlighted reports that children had been assaulted at secular youth facilities regulated by the state. TOUGH-LOVE SCHOOLS CAN BE traced back to the 1950s, when a secular group called Synanon pioneered an approach to curing heroin addiction with isolation, humiliation, and sleep deprivation. Montana officials testified at hearings they had been frustrated by complaints registered against several programs that fell outside of regulation, and that some they didnt say which tried to avoid licensing by fraudulently claiming to be part of a church. The desire of 51:10 Youth Ranch is to provide a safe place for children, horses and families. Andrew Breshears in his Agap uniform. Allegations of physical and sexual abuse at Agape and Circle of Hope Girls' Ranch prompted a state law in 2021 requiring stricter oversight of such facilities. The legislation would require the schools to register with the state, and create paths for the state to conduct safety inspections of the facilities and shut them down after abuse allegations. Trump White House Pressured Disney to Censor Jimmy Kimmel Exposing Agape is about exactly what it's name says. Agap, which according to its parent handbook costs $39,000 a year, is also influenced by Lester Roloff, a radio evangelist and pastor who founded schools for teenage girls in the late 1960s that relied on physical abuse and immersion in biblical teachings to reform them. One student, identified only by his initials, describes being forced to run outside while a staffer tailed him in a four-wheeler with a stick attached to the front, threatening to ram anyone who wasnt moving fast enough. Munton allowed the school to remain open, with state supervision.Allegations of physical and sexual abuse at Agape and nearby Christian boarding school Circle of Hope Girls' Ranch prompted a . One former student said he was raped at Agape and called "seizure boy" because of his epilepsy. Former students and their attorneys allege that for years Clemensen has been a toxic presence at the school, encouraging his staff to use violence to maintain order. One former student, Colton Schrag, claims he was beat up and slammed into walls during his four years at Agape. The only thing it would have done, Smith said of her bill, is require these adolescent facilities to have oversight by our Department of Public Health and Human Services, just like a senior citizen home or a barbershop.. When 19-year-old Rebekah Cooper started her mission, she had to give up her first name . "I would argue Pinehaven is doing a very good job with very difficult kids.". In Missouri, at least, this could be changing. Pinehaven did not respond to a request for comment. But the bills essentially became a referendum on one unregulated facility, the Pinehaven Christian Children's Ranch in St. Ignatius, Montana, whose founder showed up to hearings with supporters to argue against the change. Earlier this year, Smock, the schools longtime physician, was charged with 12 felony sexual-molestation crimes against those in his care. The Department of Social Services declined to comment on its investigations into Agap and the interviews with students, and would not release records, but said that there have been no substantiated reports of abuse or neglect at the school. They were very detailed and professional. The report, which also examined 10 cases where teenagers had died, noted that there are currently no federal laws that define and regulate residential treatment programs.. More than 90% of young adults aging-out of the foster care system will become homeless, incarcerated, in prostitution, sex trafficked, or dead within three years. Youre never gonna make it out.. By then, Circle of Hope had shut down after the state removed dozens of its students. In other words, Grandmother can spank the children as can Agap.. Contact Jorden Tramp, Donor Relations & Event Coordinator at jorden@agaperanch.org or click the button below. More than 60% of the children in our county are being placed outside of our county due to the lack of foster homes in our community. Which means that even if Missouri does end up shutting down Agap, the school could open in another state just as the Clemensens did when they were driven out of Washington. As a 501(c)3 charitable organization dedicated to providing high quality foster care in South Texas by supporting foster and adoptive families, we have been working diligently in the areas of prevention, foster care, adoption, and aging-out to provide support and mentorship for vulnerable children in our community. These rules and policies are for their son's success and protection. You can start to heal., For his part, Breshears is grateful to be free. Those details were outlined in motions filed in 19 civil lawsuits requesting that the Cedar County judge overseeing those cases allow . In November, Schrag joined close to two dozen men and women protesting outside Agap, holding signs that read Torture Is Not Treatment and Lies Wont Protect You Anymore.. And that's what it's all about.. (Clemensen says this was a nickname the boys had for an elbow injury, and denies the abuse.) Many other states, such as New Jersey, Oklahoma and Texas, do not require religious boarding schools to be licensed by education or child welfare authorities because they are privately owned or privately funded. February 28, 2023. . By 5+ Local Business Owners! One of them is Robert Graves, a student turned staffer who joined as a sheriffs deputy and married Kathy and Jims daughter, and is listed as a member of the board of an Agap-affiliated church. The Agape Boarding School was in Othello from 1992-96. Circle of Hope Girls' Ranch was a reformatory boarding school located in Humansville, Missouri.The school opened in July 2006 and was closed in 2020 amid reports and lawsuits filed by former students alleging child abuse, as well as due to an investigation conducted by the Missouri State Highway Patrol.. Before the school's closure, parents, former students, and staff filed multiple reports to . Agape Ranch will establish a safe environment of 24 homes where foster children can receive the support they need in order to mature in all aspects of their lives. The reasoning for the exemptions varies, but states generally take a hands-off approach to oversight of privately funded schools, and officials fear stoking the anger of conservative voters. Staff members would jump on you, said Schrag. New court filings reveal some of the most brutal allegations of abuse at Agape Boarding School so far, including former students' account that two staffers sexually assaulted him. It is a matter of time before youth aging out of the foster care system fall prey to the statistics. Francis lied, he said, because Robert Graves a Cedar County sheriffs deputy who is on the board of Agaps church and has worked at the school was present for the interview. 1.0 Stephen H. Winter Haven, FL. . Contact Jorden Tramp, Donor Relations & Event Coordinator at. Please enter valid email address to continue. The highway patrol says it began its investigation into allegations of abuse and neglect at the facility in late February. Cedar County Prosecutor Ty Gaither asked the governors office for help in his investigation of the Agape Ranch and Boarding School west of Stockton. Some former students have made the allegations against Agape Boarding School and Legacy Boys Academy in Stockton, Masters Ranch in far southern Missouri, and Circle of Hope Girls Ranch near . The video follows numerous allegations of abuse against Agape, a Christian reform school for boys, which until a new law in 2021, had virtually no state oversight due to its faith-based status. Bryan Clemensen was not among those charged. (Agap denies this.) Agape bills itself as a 30-year-old Christian outfit that "has helped thousands of troubled teens" in part "by showing God's love daily to these boys." But those who identify as abuse survivors . At first glance, the facility for at-risk and unmotivated boys a Baptist institution in Stockton, Missouri wasnt so terrible. Upon completion, our self sustaining community will care for up to 132 foster children and young adults at a time. People had reported Circle of Hope at least 19 times since it opened to three sheriffs departments, state child welfare and education officials, the highway patrol, and the state attorney generals office, according to interviews and records obtained by NBC News. (The recommendations are not public, so the implicated staff members are unknown.) In 1996, Agap moved to a 200-acre ranch in Cedar County, Missouri. His grandparents sent him to a mental hospital, then to Agap. Within a few months, he says, three students ran away. If there is a question about a policy or rule, do not ask your son.. Children as young as four-years-old may have had up to five foster . But Breshears got a rude welcome. Hymns blared in the classrooms. But in some states that have tried to close this oversight gap in recent years, like Montana, lawmakers have met with resistance. To him, it seemed arbitrary and needlessly brutal. If you resisted any, they would start kneeing you, hitting you, just mashing your face into the tile or concrete, wherever it was.. Within months, Jim was both saved and married, and Bryan had a new stepdad. It was time to go. Seven former students said staff members had assaulted them. KANSAS CITY, Mo. Trending Bindley, who Clemensen calls one of Agaps top success stories, says the experience left him with lasting trauma, and left a stain on my childhood growing up., Colton Schrag says he decided to speak after PTSD drove him into counseling. He would later set up a transport business to collect teens, hiring off-duty deputies to help him. Though he is 16, he is a freshman; Agaps curriculum is often not compatible with local requirements. One day after the FBI announced the arrest of a former Agape Boarding School dean, a civil right's . Boyd and Stephanie Householder are facing more than 100 charges of sexual, physical and emotional abuse that allegedly took place at their faith-based boarding school in Missouri. Cedar County Sheriff James Jimbob McCrary denied that Graves was present for interviews with students. McCrary said in an email on Friday that Graves was not present for social workers interviews with students. STOCKTON, Mo. He says he and others suffered frequent physical abuse, at the hands of at least a dozen staff members, and others didnt stop it. Several former Pinehaven students and staff members told CNN in 2012 that children were choked and assaulted at the ranch, accusations that Larsson denied and said were the work of Satan. The team at Agape Ranch said they wanted the youth there Friday night to know that they are valued. Yet the delays have frustrated state lawmakers. By JIM SALTER. The schools are unrelated and are not affiliated with any particular Christian denomination. In August, Sandoval was charged with arranging the kidnapping of an emancipated teen in Fresno, California, on behalf of the boys estranged mother, and then having him driven, handcuffed, 27 hours to Agap. The program markets itself as a Christian school that turns around rebellious boys. Schrags parents said they were unaware of any abuse occurring at the facility; the school had promised close supervision and to redirect his anger in positive ways. Appalled, he used his phone to surreptitiously record Boyd Householder, who appeared to be ordering Circle of Hope students to physically assault one of their classmates. I got picked up by the Cedar County Sheriffs Department, and I tried to tell the guy, like, Theyre beating us, dont take me back there, he says. He ran the school on fear, says Colton Schrag, a former gang associate who attended the school twice between 2004 and 2010, and is not suing because the statute of limitations has expired. He enjoyed watching movies, listening to Elvis, and playing soccer with his friends. The more Ingle learned about Circle of Hope, the more she came to believe that the problem wasn't limited to one school, but pointed to a systemic failure of state oversight. NBC News reported on the allegations earlier this . Since it claims to be a Christian organization, is not regulated by the state because of a religious exemption. The site, designed as a Christian camp, had cabins, a shower facility, a mess hall, and a small chapel. But under Missouri law, it was up to Cedar County prosecutor Ty Gaither to file charges. Others said they suffered permanent injuries from being disciplined or forced to work long hours of manual labor. I can't find any scriptures in the Bible that would say that it's OK to physically or sexually abuse children, to starve them as means of punishment, to withhold medication, to deprive them of sleep, to force them into manual labor, Ingle said. Hunt was one of a number of SBC leaders named in a 2022 report from the investigative firm Guidepost Solutions hired by the denomination in 2021 to resolve long-running conflicts over sexual abuse. He lost his red shirt and became familiar with the one place no student wanted to end up: Brown Town. That status, characterized by the brown shirt a student was forced to wear, according to lawsuits and depositions, came with extreme workouts, the loss of talking privileges, and a restricted meal plan that often consisted of a slice of bread and peanut butter, or a tortilla with a scoop of cold refried beans. Despite the concerns former students have raised recently, no state agency has the ability under Missouri law to regularly inspect how children at Agap are treated. Cedar County, Missouri, where Agap is located, is in the heart of the Bible Belt and Clemensen, his stepfather, Jim, who died in October 2021, and his mother, Kathy, long ago convinced the locals they answer to a higher authority. Facebook Page. That . It was a video secretly recorded at nearby Circle of Hope Ranch that finally moved state authorities to get involved. Missouri has been a particular hotbed for religious schools since 1982, when the state passed a law exempting faith-based residential child-care facilities from state oversight. The Missouri Department of Social Services does not conduct regular inspections of private religious schools, but child protective services and police can investigate if there is a specific abuse allegation reported. There wasnt really any training, said James Clidence, a pastor who worked as a teacher at Agap from 2012 to 2015. When I first got there, I just stayed on the low, trying to do my best, hoping to get out, he says. hen Andrew Breshears arrived at the Agap Boarding School in 2018, he was a sandy-haired 12-year-old who weighed less than 100 pounds. It could last for days on end. I pre paid him in February to cut yard 2x for months. Agape Connection. 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