It was easy to get in trouble for stupid shit, Breshears recalls. Agape Connection. Many Stockton residents consider Agap a mark of honor. That is blasphemous.. 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. Askins reached out to Child Protective Services and then shared the video with the Householders estranged daughter, Amanda. Boarding schools fleeing abuse claims in other states find 'Promised Land' in Missouri . 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. Missouri previously had virtually no oversight for religious boarding schools. 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. Mow Grass and Maintain Landscaping. But under state law at the time, the schools didnt have to tell the government they existed, and it took years of complaints before child welfare officials shut down their operations in 2015, and prosecutors charged the owners and a counselor at the facilities with aggravated child abuse. Agape Baptist Church owns and operates the private boarding school for boys in Stockton, MO. Riley Olson and His crew-help the students start and progress colts raised on the ranch, and each year they have a public auction and the young men that are a part of the program show the horse and ride him through the sale. And its not just Missouri. Youre dirtbags, youre hoodlums. State regulates church boarding schools after abuse allegations. I hired Agape to cut the lawn. The three were convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison. Circle of Hope Girls' Ranch, a nearby Christian boarding school for girls, was shut down in 2020. Address . Surprise! He is a manipulator, says Breshears. By then, Circle of Hope had shut down after the state removed dozens of its students. Bryan, by then in his twenties, was working in a state-funded group home. 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. The Agape Boarding School was in Othello from 1992-96. 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.. 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 . KANSAS CITY, Mo. 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. 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. On cue, at least two others started beating up an unsuspecting student to create a distraction. (361) 742-6330. 79 were here. 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. We want to hear it. If you need expert assistance finding the right program for your boy, fill in this inquiry form or call 888-363-0888 (24/7) for a free, confidential information service (not affiliated with Agape). It won't be long here in Missouri, he said. But he struggled at home. The curriculum included traditional math and English. 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. A judge ordered the school closed only to put the order on hold after Agap fired the staffer in question. Nathan Papes/Springfield News-Leader/Imagn. (Clemensen says this was a nickname the boys had for an elbow injury, and denies the abuse.) Staff called it the intake room. Five more alleged victims have filed civil lawsuits against Agape Boarding School of Stockton, Missouri, and the Baptist church that supervises the Christian boarding school, bringing the total number of cases alleging negligence and abuse to 19. Tuesday, The Independent reported that DSS substantiated 10 preponderance of evidence claims of physical abuse at Agape. Clemensen said the decision to close "is voluntary and solely due to the lack of financial resources to continue caring for the boys.". Bindley remembers learning quickly that retribution for breaking the rules was swift and sometimes painful. There were horses, a swimming pool, and a football team. 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. 5151 Flynn Parkway Suite 106 Corpus Christi, TX 78411. Anne Stych June 27, 2022. One day after the FBI announced the arrest of a former Agape Boarding School dean, a civil right's . The Missouri AG launched a joint investigation with Cedar County authorities. It was time to go. Former students said their communication with parents and local authorities was censored. You can start to heal., For his part, Breshears is grateful to be free. COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. The picture flashed on the big screen, and Brenda Gordon immediately . Officials . For so long, nobody cared.. 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 . He likes to get in peoples heads.. Operators declined to comment about the investigation. Agape Ranch breaks that cycle by providing compassionate care, connections within the community, and now by creating a neighborhood to give them a place to call home with families that provide unconditional love. 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. Agape Boarding School Abuse Lawsuit - Pennsylvania Schools Details: WebFormer students of Agape from Alabama, Texas, and Michigan have filed two civil lawsuits against the Boarding School for multiple charges that include physical, agape ranch abuse Verified 5 days ago In May 2021, the law requiring religious schools to register with the state passed. 3/11/2021. 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. Agape Boarding School, a Christian reform school in Cedar County, is under investigation by local authorities and the Missouri Attorney Generals office. They were very detailed and professional. For the first time, religious schools would be required to register with the state and undergo inspections; the attorney general would now have authority to close down facilities that posed a threat to students. Inside the Christian Reform School From Hell, Wyoming ranches alleged in an NBC investigation, Fundamentalist Church of Latter-Day Saints. He says one told local police that he had escaped from a Nazi camp.. It is a matter of time before youth aging out of the foster care system fall prey to the statistics. The Agap case is just the latest scandal to emerge from the billion-dollar troubled-teen industry, a loosely regulated network of therapeutic boarding schools, residential treatment centers, religious academies, and wilderness camps set up to help teenagers with drug addiction and behavioral problems. (Agap denies this.) They also look at records from any incidents in which a child is injured or restrained. The plaintiffs in the newest cases, filed June 15 in Vernon County . I'm not trying to reach for the moon on this stuff, said Richard Fiene, a research psychologist who spent decades directing public welfare and child services agencies in Pennsylvania, but Id like to see kids in safe environments where they cant be restrained and someone can't put a knee in their back and hold them to the floor where they can't breathe. 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. The most surprising thing is that nothing has been done so far to change anything, Ingle said. The result, experts said, is that in much of the country, no one from the government checks to ensure that these facilities, often in remote regions, meet basic standards before children are enrolled. In November, a man who is reportedly a former Agap employee was charged with 215 counts of possession of child pornography. After the state removed students from the school in August, Circle of Hope voluntarily shut down. And they would never tell you how long your stay in Brown Town will be, Breshears says. Former students wonder if its because of this that authorities failed to act sooner. Gaither declined to comment, but told the Cedar County Republican that Agap has the right to administer corporal punishment. Its education and human services departments do not license religious schools, or any private boarding schools, and child protective services does not have the authority to investigate allegations of abuse or neglect at them; instead, they must refer those reports to law enforcement. "Pinehaven has had challenges over the years, but so has everyone," Montana Family Foundation President Jeff Laszloffy said at a 2019 hearing. They claim Clemensen was on a power trip and seemed to enjoy brutalizing the kids in his charge. Staffers grabbed Breshears and, he claims, threw him onto the glass. I realized I cant be the only former student to have these problems, he says. Roloff was perhaps best known for starting boarding homes in the 1960s to reform youth he described as parent-hating, Satan-worshipping, dope-taking immoral boys and girls, utilizing corporal punishment and isolation for children who disobeyed. It was late on April 20, 2007, he said, and the staff at the all-boys boarding school in southwestern Missouri wanted him to confess that he and two other boys were going to try to run away. For secular youth facilities regulated by Missouris social services department, as well as those that have contracts with the state, social welfare agents conduct inspections at least twice a year to review staff training, check compliance with fire and health codes, and make sure employees have background checks and that children get proper medical attention. Relevance: This course is designed for master's level counselors, addiction professionals, and nurses who have direct client contact. Among other things, the new state law allows state or local authorities to petition the court for closure of a facility if children's safety or health are believed to be in immediate danger. The site, designed as a Christian camp, had cabins, a shower facility, a mess hall, and a small chapel. He remembers verbal abuse, such as being told, the world didnt want you and says withholding food was a punishment., Staff members would slam you on the ground, slam you into walls, pick you up by the collar and just slam you around. Colton Schrag, who spent years at Agape Boarding School in southwest Missouri, where dozens of former students have described experiencing abuse, testifies during a committee hearing on Feb. 10, 2021. We are faith-based, free, and swift to respond. Visit Website. The school closed in 2020 amid investigations. Meanwhile, Agap has phased out the boarding school, instead running multiple group homes on its property, which detractors fear is a shell game aimed at shielding it from the new laws. "If you have children who are fearful that they're going to be sent back to these facilities, you see a lot of instances where children might recant their stories," said Caitlin Whaley, director of legislation for the department. Shrag is holding an Agape year book. KANSAS CITY (AP) Maggie Drew's dad sent her to Circle . The evening began with a social hour and silent auction and continued with dinner and inspirational testimonies as we opened the next chapter of Agape Ranch. Bucklin wrote the video shows a staff . In 1995, county officials shut them down after health inspectors found the school which by then had 140 students and 25 staffers had rotting food, holes in the walls large enough to allow rodents to enter, and exposed wiring. I was just like, Screw it, he says. 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. Agap did not respond to repeated requests for comment and interviews via phone, email and a letter left at the schools reception desk. One former student, Colton Schrag, claims he was beat up and slammed into walls during his four years at Agape. Jim and Kathy Clemensen a married couple whom people call Brother Clemensen and Maam started Agap in the early 1990s. 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. On Dec. 21, a judge issued a preliminary injunction that will keep him off the list until he receives a full trial (with testimony and subpoenaed witnesses) or until further Order of this Court. In the meantime, Clemensen is prevented from having physical contact with students, but can continue working at the school. but has gone public in the past year with his . The glass flew everywhere, he says. In recent months, Clemensen has become the face of the controversy a fearless leader doing Gods work to those fighting to save his school, a sadistic villain to those who aim to close it. The 100 Best Albums of 2022. Schmitt was elected to the U.S. Senate last year and sworn in this month. Indeed, the version of the school students describe, community members say, is starkly different from the Agap the town has come to know. Paris Hilton's fellow PCS alums said they were stunned to see the heiress, who has amassed 12.6 million followers on Instagram alone, used the hashtag #BreakingCodeSilence in a social media post. 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. None of these raised eyebrows until former Agap staffers Boyd and Stephanie Householder opened Circle of Hope Girls Ranch. The report found those leaders had chronically mistreated survivors of abuse and spent decades trying to deny responsibility for abuse at individual . For a time, Breshears stayed out of trouble. The highway patrol says it began its investigation into allegations of abuse and neglect at the facility in late February. The state attorney generals office claims that Agap staff threw students into walls, pushed them to the ground, ordered them to perform 1,000 pushups, intentionally starved them, and forced them to sleep in handcuffs and wear them for as long as eight days. Colton Shrag, age 16 on a home visit from Agap in 2008. The charges come after the Missouri State Highway Patrol investigated allegations of abuse at the boarding school. He cut it 1x and never would respond to my calls. They allowed it to happen.. It now has 12. STOCKTON, Mo. Pinehaven did not respond to a request for comment. When he was told he couldnt live with his mother after her stint in rehab, he threatened to kill himself, and another person from the household. 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. Soon theyd be in a place where they were untouchable. The team at Agape Ranch said they wanted the youth there Friday night to know that they are valued. 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. 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. 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. Breshears spotted a baseball bat poking out of an equipment bag. There wasnt really any training, said James Clidence, a pastor who worked as a teacher at Agap from 2012 to 2015. Missouri previously had virtually no . The five employees of the Agape Boarding School near Stockton were charged with a total of 13 third-degree felony assault counts, Cedar County Prosecuting Attorney Ty Gaither said. 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.. Once in the car, Bindley says, they took him to their home. 3 KCPD officers shot; standoff continues into Wednesday morning. 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. Im trying to aim for a decent life, you know what Im saying? 180 Ministries, a ministry of Teen Challenge, located in Denver Colorado, is a residential substance abuse . Officials also said even if child protective services found that someone at a religious youth facility abused a child, there were no rules to prevent the person from continuing to work there. The Montana Family Foundation, an anti-abortion and anti-gay marriage advocacy organization, lobbied against the proposals, as well, and Smith said their opposition scared lawmakers who didnt want a negative mark on the conservative groups legislative scorecard. I just kind of felt like I was on my own, said Schrag, 28, who now works in the oil industry in Texas. The site was littered with old barrels, wood piles, abandoned cars, and insulation containing asbestos. He says he and others suffered frequent physical abuse, at the hands of at least a dozen staff members, and others didnt stop it. It was Clemensen who introduced the practice of restraints in the early 2000s, says Ryan Frazier, attorney for Monsees and Mayer PC, which is representing 18 former students in suits against the school. Agape Treatment Center offers Drug and Alcohol Rehab as well as Primary Mental Health Treatment. The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time In the aftermath of the criminal case, the state enacted the Alabama Youth Residential Facility Abuse Prevention Act in 2017. (NBC News presented a copy of Clidences nondisparagement agreement to Agap to confirm or dispute its authenticity, but the school did not respond.). 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. The industry is a multi-billion dollar industry that claims to help or fix troubled teenagers . He smacked me in the face with his elbow for saying the f-word. And I did get saved.. 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. 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. Related: More than a dozen people reported abuse at a religious boarding school in rural Missouri before the owners' daughter launched a campaign that got action. Jacob smelled foul and the . 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. A decent life.. In March 2020, a former Agap student named Joseph Askins stopped in to visit, and witnessed abuse that shocked him. Many of the kids my parents took in would be back six months later in worse shape, Bryan says. More than a decade later, legislators are finally making headway. Woody Harrelson Spreads Anti-Vax Conspiracies During SNL Monologue Though he is 16, he is a freshman; Agaps curriculum is often not compatible with local requirements. 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. Their lawyer denies the allegations and says that their innocence will prevail in court. Schrag says the verbal abuse was constant. Montana carved out a religious exemption when it set up a new system for licensing youth facilities and reform schools in 2007. To keep order, Agap instituted a military-like hierarchy, indicated by colored shirts that denoted ranks. 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. Netflixs Outer Banks Buries Itself in Ridiculous Season 3 Yet, when a social worker visited the school a year ago to follow up on a report that boys had been forced to run outside in the freezing temperatures and sleet, Francis said he claimed hed never seen abuse at Agap. It also lays out a set of childrens rights, banning corporal punishment and verbal and emotional abuse, and giving youth the ability to call their parents whenever they want. Agape Ranch and Boarding School near Stockton, Missouri, a facility operated by Agape Baptist Church. Posted Apr 03, 2022 11:00 AM. 24, 2021 at 10:23 AM PDT | Updated: Mar. ), Other students describe staffers encouraging classmates to fight one another, and cutting off communication with loved ones when they complained. Minnesota has even less control. In 1992, the Clemensens announced to their troubled wards that they were moving to a promised land of sorts: an old Air Force base six miles outside of tiny Othello, Washington. (888) 614-0077. . Youre going to be dead or in prison three months after you turn 18.. 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. W He says he was once ordered to perform 4,500 pushups for cussing and told if I didnt get it done, I couldnt eat my next meal. (Though Breshears says he couldnt do it, Agap denies ever denying a student a meal.) Full Gala Taping. Clemensen has said the move was necessary because negative publicity has caused enrollment to plummet, and it was not financially feasible to stay open. The group claims a wide range of abuse, from starvation to physical and emotional abuse. Within a few months, he says, three students ran away. It took a disturbing criminal case to make it happen. February 28, 2023. 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. Contact Jorden Tramp, Donor Relations & Event Coordinator at. I for sure think it would be harder to bring charges, because then your standard of proof is going to be higher, said Daniel Pollack, a social work professor at Yeshiva University. 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 . In an interview with Rolling Stone, Clemensen said that the abuse allegations are lies, and suggests they are inspired by the political ambitions of State Attorney General Eric Schmitt who was elected to the U.S. Senate in November and a small group of disgruntled former students hoping for a big payday. What they are claiming would never be OK, he says. Sick with a heart condition, Jim left the force in 1979 and moved Kathy, Bryan, and his siblings to Stockton, a sweltering agricultural city on the once-mighty San Joaquin River. It is one of the 2 times he saw his family between 2006 and 2010. One student said staffers had branded him with a cross. Another describes a staffer holding a pocket knife to his throat. 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. Wednesday afternoon, a House committee questions Missouri Department of Social Services leaders about their investigations into boarding schools. 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. That shouldn't be happening., If not, he added, kids are going to wind up losing their lives.. He says staff would restrain boys on the ground and use pressure points to the point of bruising. I was sheltered, Breshears says. The school is a nonprofit owned by the Agap Baptist Church, which was also started by the Clemensens. The staff often singled out members of Brown Town for abuse, depositions filed by former Agap students suggest. Exposing Agape is about exactly what it's name says. It would be helpful for them to come in early on this one as opposed to come in at a later date, said Gaither. On the wooded roads near Agap, Amish men drive horse-drawn buggies; hundreds of members of the polygamous Fundamentalist Church of Latter-Day Saints live on a nearby compound called the Ranch., I got picked up by the Cedar County Sheriffs Department, and I tried to tell the guy, Theyre beating us,, says one former student. The state social services department determined in a preliminary finding in 2018 that Householder physically abused a minor, according to court documents but that was not publicized and the school continued to enroll students for more than two years before it voluntarily closed. They moved their wards in and set them to work clearing the site and fixing the property. The founders of Circle of Hope face around 100 charges, some alleging sexual abuse. People who have care, custody, and control of those children have that right, as well. Clidence said Agap fired him in March 2015 when the school asked employees to sign a nondisparagement agreement, and he refused. Chapel was daily. His grandparents sent him to a mental hospital, then to Agap. Jennifer says she knows it will take a while to reconnect, and she worries about the psychic scars left by the school shes already noticed that her son hates horses now. Cant make those decisions until weve had an opportunity to review the investigative reports, and those are being put together, said Gaither. Jim and Kathy appeared at the hospital a few weeks later. "I would argue Pinehaven is doing a very good job with very difficult kids.". 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. The video was posted Sunday by Robert Bucklin, who says he survived physical and sexual abuse at Agape Boarding School near Stockton. 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. The Kansas City Star reported that the Householders deny all allegations . Updated: Dec 13, 2022 / 12:48 PM CST. Upon completion, our self sustaining community will care for up to 132 foster children and young adults at a time. If you resisted any, they would start kneeing you, hitting you, just mashing your face into the tile or concrete, wherever it was.. 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