agape ranch abuse

When I first got there, I just stayed on the low, trying to do my best, hoping to get out, he says. 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. In addition to the fired staffer, DSS has substantiated findings of child abuse or neglect against Bryan Clemensen and two other Agap employees, according to The Kansas City Star. These punishments, former students say, were often administered in a small room down a dark staircase, in the basement of the church, with blue padded floors and holes punched in the wall. The school closed in 2020 amid investigations. There, according to Bindley, he was put to work painting, roofing, and helping to dismantle a web of lead pipes covered in asbestos, which he was told to carry to the top of a hill and throw into a pit used to burn garbage. Nathan Papes/Springfield News-Leader/Imagn. 60% of the children in our county are being placed outside of our county due to the lack of foster homes in our community. Cedar . Agape Ranch and Boarding School near Stockton, Missouri, a facility operated by Agape Baptist Church. Plaintiff was allegedly physically, sexually, and emotionally abused while under the care and supervision of . Students called it the Padded Palace. 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.. KANSAS CITY, Mo. Thanks to the generous support of The Frazier Family Foundation, Gala sponsors, Gala attendees, and the community, $369,402 was raised in support of the next two homes at The Ranch during the 2021 Legacy Gala: A Matter of Time! It has not come up for a vote yet, but key Republicans in the Legislature have already signaled support. That meant calling out and even disciplining classmates for infractions like cursing, talking in line, refusing to pledge allegiance to the Christian flag, or talking about their pasts. 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 boarding school typically has about 150 boys enrolled, ages 12 to 17, and they share the ranch with farm and exotic animals, including cows, horses, llamas, water buffalo, camels and zebras, according to the schools website. Agape Boys Ranch Entrance. Then-Attorney General Eric Schmitt's office contended that 22 workers should have been charged, and with more serious crimes. But he struggled at home. Agape Boarding School, a Christian reform school in Cedar County, is under investigation by local authorities and the Missouri Attorney Generals office. Agape Ranch plans out programs, fund raisers, and community outreach monthly. I realized I cant be the only former student to have these problems, he says. Their lawyer denies the allegations and says that their innocence will prevail in court. J.M. Students called it the Padded Palace., Punishments allegedly ranged from calisthenics to wall time, where kids stood with their foreheads and noses touching the wall, except when sleeping, doing schoolwork, or eating. After abuse allegations at Circle of Hope Girls Ranch, a religious boarding school near Agap, began spreading on TikTok last spring, the Cedar County Sheriffs Department opened an investigation, which the state attorney general joined and is ongoing. I had a staff member tell me were wasting our time giving you a diploma because youre not even worth the paper its going to cost to print it on, said Schrag. (Knock her out! he can be heard saying.) Agape Treatment Center offers Drug and Alcohol Rehab as well as Primary Mental Health Treatment. After a months-long investigation, the AGs office recommended 65 charges against 22 staff members, accusing them of abusing 36 children. Related: I am proof that money doesnt protect against abuse, Hilton told state legislators, speaking in support of a bill that would better protect children in troubled-youth treatment programs. Posted Apr 03, 2022 11:00 AM. Tuesday, The Independent reported that DSS substantiated 10 preponderance of evidence claims of physical abuse at Agape. When more severe penalties were required, according to students, civil suits, and a search warrant filed later by state investigators, Agap staffers would hold the boys facedown on the floor while pressing their elbows, knees, and fingers into students pressure points, a pain compliance method known as a restraint. Or worse. Circle of Hope Girls' Ranch, a nearby Christian boarding school for girls, was shut down in 2020. Boarding schools fleeing abuse claims in other states find 'Promised Land' in Missouri . The team at Agape Ranch said they wanted the youth there Friday night to know that they are valued. RESIDENTIAL TREATMENT FOR SUBSTANCE ABUSE. Interested in learning more about the 2023 Legacy Gala? Former students wonder if its because of this that authorities failed to act sooner. That is blasphemous.. There is no cost to you, not even if you enroll in any school we might mention to you. 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. (361) 742-6330. The argument grew heated, he says, and the staffer told the kids they were going to Brown Town. Regretfully, child abuse and neglect have continued to rise and the work of Agape Ranch is needed now more than ever. Amanda, then 29, says her parents kicked her out when she was 17. All Rights Reserved. (KY3) - Missouri's attorney general is investigating a second Cedar County boarding school. Carlson said he never witnessed abuse and credited the school with temporarily keeping him off meth and teaching him how to lay tile. In May, his daughter Amanda and women who attended Circle of Hope began posting videos on TikTok describing violent restraints, starvation and emotional abuse at the ranch. A 2007 report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office found thousands of abuse allegations between 1990 and 2007 in 2005 alone, 33 states reported 1,619 staff members involved in incidents of abuse. Clemensen has said the move was necessary because negative publicity has caused enrollment to plummet, and it was not financially feasible to stay open. (Jill Toyoshiba/The Kansas City Star/Tribune News Service via Getty Images), Pennsylvania police seized gloves, flashlight from home of Idaho murders suspect. Though the area is largely Baptist, Cedar County has a tradition of religious tolerance. 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. He smacked me in the face with his elbow for saying the f-word. Alumni of Christian boarding schools for troubled teens in Missouri, including Agape and Circle of Hope, say state laws prevented inspections, enabling abuse to continue for decades. The former director of Agape Boarding School pleaded with a Cole County judge on Monday to keep himself off the state's central registry of child abuse and . Church was on Wednesday and three times on Sunday. The last time would be his graduation. The schools are unrelated and are not affiliated with any particular Christian denomination. I watched him choke, slam kids into the floor, and just basically beat the shit out of them. The 100 Greatest TV Shows of All Time Youre going to be dead or in prison three months after you turn 18.. The Agape Boarding School was in Othello from 1992-96. However, the Cedar County prosecutor says no students have been removed from the school. They denied it. STOCKTON, Mo. We want to hear it. Officials . In other words, Grandmother can spank the children as can Agap.. Askins reached out to Child Protective Services and then shared the video with the Householders estranged daughter, Amanda. Since then, former students testified at legislative hearings that they tried to report the abuse at Agape and the now-closed Circle of Hope Girls Ranch for years, but that Cedar County authorities and other officials did not respond to the . ET): After publication of this article, Cedar County Sheriff James Jimbob McCrary disputed an account by former Agap student Lucas Francis. Many Stockton residents consider Agap a mark of honor. The site, designed as a Christian camp, had cabins, a shower facility, a mess hall, and a small chapel. The law many former students of schools like Agap see as a model comes from an unlikely state to scrap religious exemptions: Alabama. Schrags adoptive parents placed him in Agap which takes its name from the ancient Greek word Christians use to describe the love of God for humankind hoping the program would help him deal with anger issues and disobedience. Operators declined to comment about the investigation. The stories of abuse told through reports by NBC News, the Kansas City Star and others prompted Missouri lawmakers to hold hearings and propose legislation last month to ramp up state oversight. None of these inspections are required at religious boarding schools. 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 . 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. Today, its home to at least 28 such institutions, though some estimates place the number at upward of 100, many of which are still operating under the radar. These courses are core requirements for Florida . 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. LAST MARCH, BRESHEARS SAYS, he was on kitchen duty when a staffer said some chocolate milk was missing from the fridge, and accused Breshears and several other students of stealing it. Jan. 23, 2023. 2022 maintained by Gibler Shaw Enterprises. They say theyre still haunted by nightmares, hypervigilance, and other symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. 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. Throughout the 1980s, Kathy and Jim fostered children whose parents were in jail. James Clemensen was a California State Highway patrolman with a death wish so extreme the wives of his fellow troopers forbade their husbands from hanging out with him. They literally took the practices of Agape and opened up Circle of Hope, so we know for a fact that there is one other school that is ran just like Circle of Hope, and that place is what Circle of Hope modeled their school after, said Amanda Householder, daughter of Circle of Hope operators. DSS added . 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.. Staff members would jump on you, said Schrag. W Agape had 132 students 13 months ago, its lawyer, John Schultz said. 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. 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