Churches of Christ don't have enough preachers to fill all the open pulpits in our fellowship. There wasnt really any training, said James Clidence, a pastor who worked as a teacher at Agap from 2012 to 2015. It will stop providing service effective Jan. 20, according to a statement from the school for boys. The report found those leaders had chronically mistreated survivors of abuse and spent decades trying to deny responsibility for abuse at individual . Sandoval, Agaps dean of students, worked shifts at the county jail. vs. Agape Baptist Church Inc., et al: In the complaint filed on August 7, 2021, Alabama plaintiff shared his allegations of abuse while being under the custody of Agape Boarding School from approximately March 2012 to March 2013. The posts went viral even receiving a thumbs-up from Paris Hilton. They led to a front-page story in the Cedar County Republican. We are gathered here, former students,. 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. Nathan Papes/Springfield News-Leader/Imagn. Weve had 6,000 students and only a small percent are making these claims, and I could give you the names of many who thank me. Rolling Stone contacted one of them, Matt Carlson, who says he spent the better part of a year at Agap in the early 2000s. In Missouri, at least, this could be changing. 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. Every year, Agape Ranch hosts our Adoption Connection event to help children in foster care find their forever home. Cant make those decisions until weve had an opportunity to review the investigative reports, and those are being put together, said Gaither. Missouri's Agap Boarding School will close its doors due to a lack of finances, school officials say but the . 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 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. 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. 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! Agaps handbook states it has a strict hands-off policy regarding the students, and does not use corporal punishment. J.M. He enjoyed watching movies, listening to Elvis, and playing soccer with his friends. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot loses reelection bid, Fiery train crash in Greece kills dozens, many of them students, 1894 shipwreck found in Lake Huron, confirming "powerful, tragic story", Garland to face Congress amid ongoing special counsel investigations, FBI chief says agency feels pandemic likely started with Chinese lab leak, House select committee hearing paints China as a strategic antagonist, JetBlue flight forced to abort landing in close call at Logan Airport, Three officers shot, standoff follows in Kansas City, Mo., police say, Vanessa Bryant, family settles claims over Kobe crash site photos for $28.5M, Agape Boarding School, Stockton, Cedar County, Missouri. I believe the community is aware. Posted Apr 03, 2022 11:00 AM. When speaking with Rolling Stone, Clemensen denied the allegations against him and explained his approach to reform. 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. Clidence said Agap fired him in March 2015 when the school asked employees to sign a nondisparagement agreement, and he refused. Their lawyer denies the allegations and says that their innocence will prevail in court. He grabbed the bat, charged toward the front of the cafeteria, and shattered a plate-glass window. People had reported Circle of Hope at least 19 times since it opened to three sheriffs departments, state child welfare and education officials, the highway patrol, and the state attorney generals office, according to interviews and records obtained by NBC News. The Clemenson family, who currently runs Agape, has been shut down in two states due to abuse allegations but no charges were ever made. An investigation into the school began after The Star reported on the abuse allegations last year. He says he and others suffered frequent physical abuse, at the hands of at least a dozen staff members, and others didnt stop it. Until 2017, Alabamas Religious Freedom Amendment shielded boarding schools such as the Restoration Youth Academy and its sister facility, the Saving Youth Foundation, from government oversight. Agape Boarding School was moving away from the "nonbelievers" in Washington and California and heading east. In Missouri, parents are allowed to discipline their children, he said. abuse at agape I have spent the last 5 days at agape boys ranch helping with the annual horse sale. Agape Boarding school has had its share of abuse allegations over the years. Mow Grass and Maintain Landscaping. Schrag says he tried to escape around 2007, when he was 15. Full Gala Taping. Indeed, the version of the school students describe, community members say, is starkly different from the Agap the town has come to know. Several lawsuits filed on behalf of former students also have named Agape and Circle of Hope. KANSAS CITY, Mo. Hymns blared in the classrooms. In May 2021, the law requiring religious schools to register with the state passed. Staffers grabbed Breshears and, he claims, threw him onto the glass. Boyd opened the ranch in 2006 as a "school that he claimed could reform rebellious teenage girls," according to NBC News. None of these raised eyebrows until former Agap staffers Boyd and Stephanie Householder opened Circle of Hope Girls Ranch. Upon completion, our self sustaining community will care for up to 132 foster children and young adults at a time. But legislation she pushed for several years to require these programs to be licensed by the state the same way as secular facilities repeatedly failed to even get a vote. Address . Those details were outlined in motions filed in 19 civil lawsuits requesting that the Cedar County judge overseeing those cases allow . Child welfare officials in Washington cited Agap for overcrowding and poor sanitation, according to a 1995 newspaper article. Bryan Clemensen was not among those charged. In civil suits, Agap students describe being choked with rebar and electrical cords, pushed through drywall, having their noses broken, and hit in the testicles hard enough to cause traumatic groin injury. They say several boys attempted to hang themselves, in what they call a pandemic among students. Agap, through its attorney, denies the allegations, and says that no student there has ever killed himself. Gaither declined to comment, but told the Cedar County Republican that Agap has the right to administer corporal punishment. 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. Hilton tweeted to Missouri's attorney general and governor on June 21. In the aftermath of the criminal case, the state enacted the Alabama Youth Residential Facility Abuse Prevention Act in 2017. Though the area is largely Baptist, Cedar County has a tradition of religious tolerance. Five months later, authorities raided Circle of Hope, seizing evidence and removing 25 girls from the ranch. 24 homes where foster children can receive the support they need in order to mature in all aspects of their lives. Another describes a staffer holding a pocket knife to his throat. 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. 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. . 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. 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. Use tab to navigate through the menu items. 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.. Schmitt last year asked a Cedar County judge to close Agape, but the judge had not yet issued a decision. They moved their wards in and set them to work clearing the site and fixing the property. Moments later, Bindley says, Bryan yanked him backward, slamming his chair and his head into the concrete floor. Montana carved out a religious exemption when it set up a new system for licensing youth facilities and reform schools in 2007. They held a blood drive, organized a Fourth of July fireworks spectacular, and began holding an annual rodeo. 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. NWS confirms EF-1 tornado near Goodman, Mo. 1:00. He would later set up a transport business to collect teens, hiring off-duty deputies to help him. In March 2020, a former Agap student named Joseph Askins stopped in to visit, and witnessed abuse that shocked him. The schools are unrelated and are not affiliated with any particular Christian denomination. 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 . Earlier this year, Smock, the schools longtime physician, was charged with 12 felony sexual-molestation crimes against those in his care. The 57-year-old is currently facing charges of second-degree statutory sodomy . Trending It was a video secretly recorded at nearby Circle of Hope Ranch that finally moved state authorities to get involved. These rules and policies are for their son's success and protection. In 1991, Todd Bindley, then 13, moved in. Though Ms. Allred's office has spent months soliciting a cash settlement, we were unaware that a suit would be filed. Copyright 2023 Penske Business Media, LLC. Its just a very scary place to be, Bradney said. 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. 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. Im trying to aim for a decent life, you know what Im saying? 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. Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. Jacob smelled foul and the . Contact Jorden Tramp, Donor Relations & Event Coordinator at. Lucas Francis, 19, said he regularly witnessed staff members slam boys into walls and onto the ground when he attended Agap from 2017 to 2020. By 14, Breshears says, he was fully in staffers crosshairs. 24, 2021 at 10:23 AM PDT | Updated: Mar. He lost his red shirt and became familiar with the one place no student wanted to end up: Brown Town. That status, characterized by the brown shirt a student was forced to wear, according to lawsuits and depositions, came with extreme workouts, the loss of talking privileges, and a restricted meal plan that often consisted of a slice of bread and peanut butter, or a tortilla with a scoop of cold refried beans. 4/5/2021. Carlson said he never witnessed abuse and credited the school with temporarily keeping him off meth and teaching him how to lay tile. The next morning, Breshears made a plan with the other students to start a riot. That evening, as Agaps 150 students and staffers were finishing up dinner, Breshears spotted a fellow conspirator flash a thumbs-up. For so long, nobody cared.. 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.) 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. It has not come up for a vote yet, but key Republicans in the Legislature have already signaled support. 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. Clemensen has said the move was necessary because negative publicity has caused enrollment to plummet, and it was not financially feasible to stay open. Agape Ranch is a thriving faith-based non-profit offering a forward-thinking and compassionate community-based solution to the foster care crisis facing America today. Since last year, 19 former students have filed lawsuits against the school, alleging physical and emotional abuse, and in . We are the best rehab . 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. 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. (361) 742-6330. They say theyre still haunted by nightmares, hypervigilance, and other symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. Christian Reform School Accused of Abuse Shuts Down After Rolling Stone Expos. 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. (Clemensen says this was a nickname the boys had for an elbow injury, and denies the abuse.) To him, it seemed arbitrary and needlessly brutal. This created an environment ripe for abuse to happen. 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