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. 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. Home to a population of 1,600, it has a tiny main square, the worlds largest processor of eastern black walnuts, and 21 churches. 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. 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. 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. IN THE MONTHS AFTER HIS ARRIVAL, Breshears feelings about Agap changed. 25, 2021 at 2:05 PM PDT. In March 2020, a former Agap student named Joseph Askins stopped in to visit, and witnessed abuse that shocked him. He cut it 1x and never would respond to my calls. Bindley remembers learning quickly that retribution for breaking the rules was swift and sometimes painful. To report a correction or typo, please email digitalnews@ky3.com, State of Missouri investigating Agape Ranch and Boarding School near Stockton, Deputy seriously hurt in crash with driver opening beer, Greene County prosecutor files charges against man accused of crashing truck into a house. Contact Agape International Missions Email: info@aim4asia.org Phone: 916.784.2800. We felt they needed God in their lives. The state, he says, had no clue how to get to a kids heart.. He likes to get in peoples heads.. According to AG Schmitts office, the Cedar County Sheriffs Department employs at least three people who used to work at Agap. Cedar . Shrag is holding an Agape year book. When I first got there, I just stayed on the low, trying to do my best, hoping to get out, he says. 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 . 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Trump Melts Down Over Murdoch Admitting Fox Lied About Election Fraud. 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. 2 min read. Jim and Kathy Clemensen a married couple whom people call Brother Clemensen and Maam started Agap in the early 1990s. We are the best rehab . They were very detailed and professional. 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. Other punishments, the former students and staff members said, included forcing boys to stare at a wall for hours, limiting meals to peanut butter sandwiches, and requiring students to haul rocks outside from one pile to another. They denied it. 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. 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. 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. Locals says the Clemensens ingratiated themselves by offering tours, and hosting Boy Scout breakfasts and luncheons for the local Methodist group. (Clemensen says this was a nickname the boys had for an elbow injury, and denies the abuse.) 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. 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. And in at least 14 other states, education and child welfare agencies exempt boarding schools from licensing requirements if they are privately owned or privately funded. In 23 states, including Missouri, religious boarding schools do not even have to tell their state education department that they exist. For more on this story, watch NBC's "Dateline" episode, "Broken Circle". 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.. His outrage became open defiance. The newly appointed attorney general, Andrew Bailey, had said he planned to continue pursuing closure. By 5+ Local Business Owners! (Knock her out! he can be heard saying.) 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. Inside the Christian Reform School From Hell, Wyoming ranches alleged in an NBC investigation, Fundamentalist Church of Latter-Day Saints. This results in many children being separated from their siblings and the only community that they know. Its about getting these kids to a place in their life where they have to look to God for help, he says. They would say, Youre nothing. 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. Right away, staff shaved his head, handed him an orange shirt and a pair of Wranglers, moved him into a dorm that looked like Marine barracks, and introduced him to a dizzying litany of rules. Agape's doctor is charged with child sex crimes and five employees are accused of assault, though Missouri's attorney general thinks many more workers should have been charged.. After the state removed students from the school in August, Circle of Hope voluntarily . One killed in officer-involved shooting in Branson, Mo. Schmitt last year asked a Cedar County judge to close Agape, but the judge had not yet issued a decision. Children as young as four-years-old may have had up to five foster . The Clemensens sent 100 boys home, and moved the rest to base housing. By 14, Breshears says, he was fully in staffers crosshairs. January 11, 2023 / 6:04 PM The site was littered with old barrels, wood piles, abandoned cars, and insulation containing asbestos. Trending They allowed it to happen.. The AG was on board. The state of Missouri has opened a criminal investigation into allegations of abuse and neglect at Agap Boarding School, a Christian institution in the rural southwestern part of the state, a spokesman for the state's Highway Patrol confirmed Friday. Former students said their communication with parents and local authorities was censored. Attendance at Agape plummeted after abuse allegations surfaced. The couple met when Jim pulled Kathy over for drag racing a beat-up Ford Pinto around the East Bay. 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. 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 . In 1996, Agap moved to a 200-acre ranch in Cedar County, Missouri. Agape Baptist Church owns and operates the private boarding school for boys in Stockton, MO. Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. All Rights Reserved. Since last year, 19 former students have filed lawsuits against the school, alleging physical and emotional abuse, and in . STOCKTON, 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. The way Bryan tells it, in the 1970s, Kathy was a single mom whod found Jesus but still had a mischievous streak. The 100 Greatest TV Shows of All Time ", "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. Clidence said Agap fired him in March 2015 when the school asked employees to sign a nondisparagement agreement, and he refused. They called the school Agap, meaning Gods love for man. The Clemenson family, who currently runs Agape, has been shut down in two states due to abuse allegations but no charges were ever made. 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. 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. One former Agape student who sued, Robert Bucklin, said the closure means justice "has finally prevailed. Jacob smelled foul and the . He has been a trainer for 10 years specializing in substance abuse. It now has 12. Agap did not respond to repeated requests for comment and interviews via phone, email and a letter left at the schools reception desk. Robert Bucklin, 28, who is identified in the motion and lawsuit as R.B. Former students of Agape from Alabama, Texas, and Michigan have filed two civil lawsuits against the Boarding School for multiple charges that include physical, sexual, and emotional abuse. 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 . 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. But Breshears got a rude welcome. 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. Throughout the 1980s, Kathy and Jim fostered children whose parents were in jail. 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. The schools are unrelated and are not affiliated with any particular Christian denomination. I dont want another kid to have to go through what I went through, Schrag said. To keep order, Agap instituted a military-like hierarchy, indicated by colored shirts that denoted ranks. A judge ordered the school closed only to put the order on hold after Agap fired the staffer in question. I believe the community is aware. I tried to find a record of it, but there was none. (The Cedar County Sheriffs Department did not return calls seeking comment.). Seth Duncan was charged with five counts of third . 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. All Rights reserved. Many children in foster care feel unlovable because of the abuse they've suffered all their lives. Indeed, the version of the school students describe, community members say, is starkly different from the Agap the town has come to know. (KY3) - Missouri's attorney general is investigating a second Cedar County boarding school. In September 2021, he charged five Agap staff members with a total of 13 counts of third-degree assault, the lowest degree of felony. Copyright 2023 Penske Business Media, LLC. Trump White House Pressured Disney to Censor Jimmy Kimmel The troubled teen industry is a term used to refer to a broad range of youth residential programs aimed at struggling teenagers. Several lawsuits filed on behalf of former students also have named Agape and Circle of Hope. 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. Agape's trouble began in 2020 when former students came forward with abuse allegations. More than 90% of young adults aging out of the foster system will become homeless, incarcerated, in prostitution, sex trafficked, or dead within three years. 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 . 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. The school has been operating in Missouri where until 2021, privately owned schools were not required to report to the state. Thats where someone went too far. Earlier this year, Smock, the schools longtime physician, was charged with 12 felony sexual-molestation crimes against those in his care. Operators advertise it as a national boarding school for at-risk or unmotivated boys. 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. W 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 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. 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. 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! Schrag says he tried to escape around 2007, when he was 15. They also look at records from any incidents in which a child is injured or restrained. None of these inspections are required at religious boarding schools. For example, Arkansas allows boarding schools and child welfare agencies operated solely by a religious organization to be exempt from licensing. I can at least try to show others that you dont have to keep it inside. Published: Mar. ON SEPT. 7, 2022, ATTORNEY GENERAL SCHMITT and the State Department of Social Services (DSS) filed to close Agap. (Agap denies these allegations. 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. But then, Breshears made friends and began to reconsider his allegiances particularly, he says, after he witnessed classmates getting restrained. 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. It has not come up for a vote yet, but key Republicans in the Legislature have already signaled support. 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. Whatever the case, Clemensen has many allies where it perhaps counts the most: in the community. They led to a front-page story in the Cedar County Republican. (The recommendations are not public, so the implicated staff members are unknown.) 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. 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. NBC News reported on the allegations earlier this . 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. His grandparents sent him to a mental hospital, then to Agap. But a Senate staffer helping to write the legislation cautions that in order to get a bill passed, they will likely have to tie compliance to funding, and are unlikely to mandate it. One morning, he overheard one of the Clemensen daughters asking for help with a math problem, to which Bindley shot back a smartass remark. 79 were here. 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. 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. After each event, the team assesses what went well, what could be done better, and how many children/foster families were positively impacted. Upon completion, our self sustaining community will care for up to 132 foster children and young adults at a time. 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. 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 . There were horses, a swimming pool, and a football team. The next home at The Ranch is for youth aging-out of foster care and the need is urgent. 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. 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. KANSAS CITY, Mo. The desire of 51:10 Youth Ranch is to provide a safe place for children, horses and families. He is a manipulator, says Breshears. Some who attended and worked at the school said otherwise. 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. In Missouri, parents are allowed to discipline their children, he said. Youre dirtbags, youre hoodlums. 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. Students called it the Padded Palace. But he struggled at home. They insisted everyone call them Brother Jim and Maam, and their son Brother Bryan.. In the aftermath of the criminal case, the state enacted the Alabama Youth Residential Facility Abuse Prevention Act in 2017. The site, designed as a Christian camp, had cabins, a shower facility, a mess hall, and a small chapel. That was the last straw; they had him committed. 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. Josh Bradney, 19, who attended Agap from 2014 to 2016, said staff members slammed him to the ground when he told his parents on a phone call that Agap employees hit another boy with a football helmet. Mow Grass and Maintain Landscaping. Agape Ranch and Boarding School near Stockton, Missouri, a facility operated by Agape Baptist Church. Though he is 16, he is a freshman; Agaps curriculum is often not compatible with local requirements. Robert Larsson, 89, a preacher and the founder of Pinehaven, gave folksy presentations about how his school improved the lives of children, who spent their days at the ranch wrangling calves, shoveling manure and learning Bible verses. Seven boys tested positive for tuberculosis. The foothills of the Ozarks sat in the distance. 90% of young adults aging-out of the foster care system will become homeless, incarcerated, in prostitution, sex trafficked, or dead within three years. 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. . Master's Ranch Christian Academy which has had a facility in southern Missouri for more than a decade opened a new location . It is a matter of time before youth aging out of the foster care system fall prey to the statistics. COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. The picture flashed on the big screen, and Brenda Gordon immediately . . 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. 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 they would never tell you how long your stay in Brown Town will be, Breshears says. The founders of Circle of Hope face around 100 charges, some alleging sexual abuse. Circle of Hope was opened in 2006 by Boyd Householder, a former Agap employee, as a school for rebellious teenage girls. I was scared I would get in trouble, and just make everything worse for me, said Francis, whose account was first reported by the Kansas City Star. After Schrag, then 14, refused to answer their questions, he said, one of the employees knocked him to the ground, and then others held him facedown, pressing a knee into his back and head. The law many former students of schools like Agap see as a model comes from an unlikely state to scrap religious exemptions: Alabama. The three were convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison. Agape Ranch will establish a safe environment of. 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. Anne Stych June 27, 2022. On hold after Agap fired the staffer in question owns and operates the private boarding school for teenage! Sent him to a mental hospital, then to Agap couple whom people call Brother and..., Smock, the schools are unrelated and are not affiliated with any particular Christian denomination horses and.... 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