A scandal-plagued fundamentalist boarding school in Missouri is facing renewed criticism after video surfaced allegedly showing "clear abuse" by a leader at the school. 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. 1:00. Agape Boys Ranch Entrance. Editors Note: This story, which appears in the January 2023 issue of Rolling Stone, has been updated to include additional details on court cases that had not been decided until after the print deadline. Surprise! 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. Churches of Christ don't have enough preachers to fill all the open pulpits in our fellowship. 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. To keep order, Agap instituted a military-like hierarchy, indicated by colored shirts that denoted ranks. It took a disturbing criminal case to make it happen. (Photo by Tim Bommel/House Communications) The foothills of the Ozarks sat in the distance. Amanda Householder is suing her parents, Boyd and Stephanie Householder, owners of Circle of Hope Girls Ranch and Boarding School. In other words, Grandmother can spank the children as can Agap.. Its just a very scary place to be, Bradney said. I pre paid him in February to cut yard 2x for months. We are the best rehab . Federal lawmakers say they plan to introduce legislation to curtail abuses in the industry. Francis said that Robert Graves, a Cedar County sheriffs deputy who had worked at Agap, sat in on a meeting Francis had with a social worker who was looking into abuse allegations at the school. We want to make it about the children's rights rather than taking away religious rights. Agape Treatment Center offers Drug and Alcohol Rehab as well as Primary Mental Health Treatment. Many children in foster care feel unlovable because of the abuse they've suffered all their lives. The state has been fighting to close Agap ever since. 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. 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. abuse at agape I have spent the last 5 days at agape boys ranch helping with the annual horse sale. 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. Since Circle of Hope opened in 2006, at least 15 people said they reported abuse at the ranch to at least six local, state and federal agencies in Missouri, an NBC News investigation found, based . Boarding schools fleeing abuse claims in other states find 'Promised Land' in Missouri . 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.. One former student reportedly mentioned Agap in a suicide note. MANY OF THE ALLEGATIONS AGAINST Agap staffers are easily found on podcasts and interviews on YouTube. They noted that DSS had confirmed a case of child abuse and added the name of the Agap staffer responsible to the Child Abuse and Neglect Central Registry, prohibiting him from working at a residential facility. A Tri-City Herald story from 1996 said that Franklin County officials ordered the facility to close for code violations over removing and . Agape Ranch will establish a safe environment of. 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. Agape Ranch and Boarding School near Stockton, Missouri, a facility operated by Agape Baptist Church. 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. He enjoyed watching movies, listening to Elvis, and playing soccer with his friends. Schmitt was elected to the U.S. Senate last year and sworn in this month. The allegations of abuse were filed at the Cedar County Circuit . His grandparents sent him to a mental hospital, then to Agap. Relevance: This course is designed for master's level counselors, addiction professionals, and nurses who have direct client contact. That's no secret, as news stories in The Christian. 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 . Pour Salt Down Your Drain At Night, Here's Why, Tyler Kingkade and Liz Brown and Keith Morrison and Rachel White and Andrew Williams and Javier Rodriguez. Missouri previously had virtually no . The industry is a multi-billion dollar industry that claims to help or fix troubled teenagers . Our rehabilitation center in Fort Lauderdale for substance abuse embraces a universal, unconditional love that transcends, that serves regardless of circumstances. 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. NBC News reported on the allegations earlier this . Those details were outlined in motions filed in 19 civil lawsuits requesting that the Cedar County judge overseeing those cases allow . In the aftermath of the criminal case, the state enacted the Alabama Youth Residential Facility Abuse Prevention Act in 2017. Circle of Hope Girls Ranch near Humansville . 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. (Agap denies any knowledge of these allegations. It is a matter of time before youth aging out of the foster care system fall prey to the statistics. I watched him choke, slam kids into the floor, and just basically beat the shit out of them. Agape Baptist Church owns and operates the private boarding school for boys in Stockton, MO. If there is a question about a policy or rule, do not ask your son.. The last time would be his graduation. Agap did not respond to repeated requests for comment and interviews via phone, email and a letter left at the schools reception desk. 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. 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. Editors picks Boyd opened the ranch in 2006 as a "school that he claimed could reform rebellious teenage girls," according to NBC News. One former student, Colton Schrag, claims he was beat up and slammed into walls during his four years at Agape. Andrew Breshears in his Agap uniform. Within a few months, he says, three students ran away. But in July, his mother rewon custody and sprung him from Agap. Copyright 2023 Penske Business Media, LLC. The school states on its website that its staff are trained in proper restraining tactics, which are only used if a child is a threat to others and last for just a few minutes. 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.. 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. Some who attended and worked at the school said otherwise. In 23 states, including Missouri, religious boarding schools do not even have to tell their state education department that they exist. The 200 Greatest Singers of All Time Agape Boarding School in Stockton has been the subject of state and local investigations and several lawsuits from former students. He says he and others suffered frequent physical abuse, at the hands of at least a dozen staff members, and others didnt stop it. Circle of Hope Girls' Ranch, a nearby Christian boarding school for girls, was shut down in 2020. 2022 maintained by Gibler Shaw Enterprises. And he said, No, theyre not. He cuffed me up and dropped me back off at Agap. Thats where someone went too far. Staff members at Agap don't have to go through background checks, and the facility is not required to document how or why children are restrained. But in some states that have tried to close this oversight gap in recent years, like Montana, lawmakers have met with resistance. 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. Every year, thousands of young Mormons go on missions to try to recruit others into the religion. 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. The school is a nonprofit owned by the Agap Baptist Church, which was also started by the Clemensens. 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. That . Advocates are watching the Agap case, and suggest it illustrates why federal legislation is needed. 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. Those cases allow cut yard 2x for months 23 states, including Missouri, religious boarding schools do ask! Mother rewon custody and sprung him from Agap of them enough preachers fill. Story from 1996 said that Franklin County officials ordered the facility to close Agap ever since pulpits! Are easily found on podcasts and interviews via phone, email and a letter at. Children as can Agap.. Its just a very scary place to be Bradney. 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