His religious mother wasnt having it. I dont want another kid to have to go through what I went through, Schrag said. The Kansas City Star reported that the Householders deny all allegations . Updated: Dec 13, 2022 / 12:48 PM CST. That was the last straw; they had him committed. ), Other students describe staffers encouraging classmates to fight one another, and cutting off communication with loved ones when they complained. One night, he got into an argument with his mom and stepdad that turned physical, and they accused him of being possessed. The Republican-sponsored measure requires religious boarding schools to register with the state, pass a health department inspection and ensure that staff meet minimum standards. The next home at The Ranch is for youth aging-out of foster care and the need is urgent. 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. He says staff would restrain boys on the ground and use pressure points to the point of bruising. There wasnt really any training, said James Clidence, a pastor who worked as a teacher at Agap from 2012 to 2015. Its just a very scary place to be, Bradney said. 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). 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. He enjoyed watching movies, listening to Elvis, and playing soccer with his friends. I was sheltered, Breshears says. Schmitt last year asked a Cedar County judge to close Agape, but the judge had not yet issued a decision. Cedar County Prosecutor Ty Gaither asked the governors office for help in his investigation of the Agape Ranch and Boarding School west of Stockton. 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. They allowed it to happen.. The desire of 51:10 Youth Ranch is to provide a safe place for children, horses and families. Circle of Hope closed in 2020, and its owners, Boyd and Stephanie Householder, face 101 felony charges, including statutory rape, abuse and neglect of a child. 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. It has not come up for a vote yet, but key Republicans in the Legislature have already signaled support. Colton Schrag remembers the night at the Agap Boarding School when, he says, a staff member punched him in the face. The school's focus now is "on getting the boys who remain in the program safely transitioned to their parents or to foster care, other group homes or residential programs," its former director, Bryan Clemensen, said in a statement. The Clemenson family, who currently runs Agape, has been shut down in two states due to abuse allegations but no charges were ever made. For example, when many foster children age out of the system, they have lived in an average of 12 foster homes. 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. Agape also faces criminal charges . The action galvanized Agap alumni, as well, and they began telling their stories to local media and on podcasts. He smacked me in the face with his elbow for saying the f-word. They called the school Agap, meaning Gods love for man. But in July, his mother rewon custody and sprung him from Agap. They promoted me I was the youngest person to go red. The team at Agape Ranch said they wanted the youth there Friday night to know that they are valued. Tuesday, The Independent reported that DSS substantiated 10 preponderance of evidence claims of physical abuse at Agape. 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. This created an environment ripe for abuse to happen. Bindley remembers learning quickly that retribution for breaking the rules was swift and sometimes painful. These courses are core requirements for Florida . Missouri previously had virtually no oversight for religious boarding schools. 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. 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. More than a decade later, legislators are finally making headway. ON SEPT. 7, 2022, ATTORNEY GENERAL SCHMITT and the State Department of Social Services (DSS) filed to close Agap. Call us today and find long-term recovery. The fastest way for a student to attain a coveted burgundy or red shirt, Breshears soon learned, was to embrace the Lord and help Brother Bryan Bryan Clemensen, the schools co-founder and eventual director and principal enforce the rules. The Kansas City Star ran a series of exposs detailing shocking allegations first about Circle of Hope, then Agap. They held a blood drive, organized a Fourth of July fireworks spectacular, and began holding an annual rodeo. 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. 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. (Knock her out! he can be heard saying.) 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. Jim and Kathy Clemensen a married couple whom people call Brother Clemensen and Maam started Agap in the early 1990s. 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. They say theyre still haunted by nightmares, hypervigilance, and other symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. But in some states that have tried to close this oversight gap in recent years, like Montana, lawmakers have met with resistance. Every year, Agape Ranch hosts our Adoption Connection event to help children in foster care find their forever home. At least two other states Montana and Arkansas carve out licensing exemptions for religious facilities. Carlson said he never witnessed abuse and credited the school with temporarily keeping him off meth and teaching him how to lay tile. 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. Another describes a staffer holding a pocket knife to his throat. abuse at agape I have spent the last 5 days at agape boys ranch helping with the annual horse sale. Staff called it the intake or restraint room. Agape Ranch is dedicated to making a difference within their community and building capacity within the team. It now has 12. So far Clemensen has kept his name out of the registry; he lost an appeal on Nov. 17, and filed for a judicial review in circuit court, which granted him a temporary restraining order keeping him off the list. February 28, 2023. Cedar County Sheriff James Jimbob McCrary denied that Graves was present for interviews with students. So they constructed wooden bunks on the second floor of their modest home, set up cubicles in the garage, and obtained work booklets produced by Accelerated Christian Education. But instead of the therapeutic environment the schools leaders promised, Schrag and 11 others who were sent to Agap as children from the late 1990s up to last year, as well as four former staff members, told NBC News they saw Agap workers hold boys down and hit them. Five months later, authorities raided Circle of Hope, seizing evidence and removing 25 girls from the ranch. Once in the car, Bindley says, they took him to their home. People who have care, custody, and control of those children have that right, as well. 180 Ministries, a ministry of Teen Challenge, located in Denver Colorado, is a residential substance abuse . Posted at 6:19 PM, Sep 01, 2022. and last updated 4:46 PM, Sep 01, 2022. Many of the kids my parents took in would be back six months later in worse shape, Bryan says. Master's Ranch Christian Academy which has had a facility in southern Missouri for more than a decade opened a new location . Circle of Hope was opened in 2006 by Boyd Householder, a former Agap employee, as a school for rebellious teenage girls. Askins reached out to Child Protective Services and then shared the video with the Householders estranged daughter, Amanda. For example, Arkansas allows boarding schools and child welfare agencies operated solely by a religious organization to be exempt from licensing. The BBC was given access to their UK boot camp, where they learn how to teach Mormon beliefs and use social media to reach potential converts. It won't be long here in Missouri, he said. He is pleased to hear the Missouri attorney generals office is now investigating Agape Boarding School. Nathan Papes/Springfield News-Leader/Imagn. Thanks to the generosity of others, Agape Ranch will now be able to provide housing and mentorship for foster youth who age-out while they pursue higher education or career training. Plaintiff was allegedly physically, sexually, and emotionally abused while under the care and supervision of . 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. One former student, Colton Schrag, claims he was beat up and slammed into walls during his four years at Agape. McCrary said in an email on Friday that Graves was not present for social workers interviews with students. For so long, nobody cared.. Several lawsuits filed on behalf of former students also have named Agape and Circle of Hope. Agap did not respond to repeated requests for comment and interviews via phone, email and a letter left at the schools reception desk. One student said staffers had branded him with a cross. Lawmakers held hearings and introduced a bill that would give the state some oversight. (Agap denies this.) Clidence said Agap fired him in March 2015 when the school asked employees to sign a nondisparagement agreement, and he refused. Soon theyd be in a place where they were untouchable. (Both have pleaded not guilty.) 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 . Youre going to be dead or in prison three months after you turn 18.. Mow Grass and Maintain Landscaping. DSS added . One day after the FBI announced the arrest of a former Agape Boarding School dean, a civil right's . Those details were outlined in motions filed in 19 civil lawsuits requesting that the Cedar County judge overseeing those cases allow . The couple met when Jim pulled Kathy over for drag racing a beat-up Ford Pinto around the East Bay. in solitary confinement, handcuffed them to beds, Alabama Youth Residential Facility Abuse Prevention Act. 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.. Jim and Kathy appeared at the hospital a few weeks later. Just last summer, former students at a pair of Wyoming ranches alleged in an NBC investigation that they had been forced to perform backbreaking manual labor and subjected to traumatic physical and emotional abuse. 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. Contact Agape International Missions Email: info@aim4asia.org Phone: 916.784.2800. 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. Recently, individuals associated with Agap have been accused of a growing list of crimes. 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. To him, it seemed arbitrary and needlessly brutal. 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. 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