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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. The next home at The Ranch is for youth aging-out of foster care and the need is urgent. 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. Yet Agaps neighbors insist they never had any idea. He says he and others suffered frequent physical abuse, at the hands of at least a dozen staff members, and others didnt stop it. 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. 24 homes where foster children can receive the support they need in order to mature in all aspects of their lives. 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.) The glass flew everywhere, he says. Via Fox13, the local news station out of Salt Lake City, we get a detailed response to the lawsuit from ranch management: "We at Turn-About Ranch strongly deny the allegations put forward in Ms. Allred's press conference. He liked Metallica and Garbage Pail Kids cards, and had a tendency to cause trouble. Former Calallen ISD teacher Joseph Sandoval sentenced to 35 years in prison for sexual abuse . I watched him choke, slam kids into the floor, and just basically beat the shit out of them. It is one of the 2 times he saw his family between 2006 and 2010. Posted Apr 03, 2022 11:00 AM. 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. 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. In addition to the fired staffer, DSS has substantiated findings of child abuse or neglect against Bryan Clemensen and two other Agap employees, according to The Kansas City Star. We are the best rehab . 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 . Whatever the case, Clemensen has many allies where it perhaps counts the most: in the community. The argument grew heated, he says, and the staffer told the kids they were going to Brown Town. They insisted everyone call them Brother Jim and Maam, and their son Brother Bryan.. The school has been operating in Missouri where until 2021, privately owned schools were not required to report to the state. Shrag is holding an Agape year book. 2022 maintained by Gibler Shaw Enterprises. A decent life.. The 100 Greatest TV Shows of All Time 25, 2021 at 2:05 PM PDT. For $3,250 in tuition per month, the school claims on its website that it can turn around defiant and rebellious boys through spiritual growth., Parents, who are only allowed to visit with two weeks notice, are warned in the school handbook they should never try and interfere with the policies or rules of Agap Boarding School. Schmitt last year asked a Cedar County judge to close Agape, but the judge had not yet issued a decision. Facebook Page. Meanwhile, Agap was growing. The school still faces a wave of lawsuits accusing administrators of abuse. 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. Call us today and find long-term recovery. It was a video secretly recorded at nearby Circle of Hope Ranch that finally moved state authorities to get involved. 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. If there is a question about a policy or rule, do not ask your son.. He would later help stage an uprising as an attempt to get thrown out of the school. One student said staffers had branded him with a cross. Bryan, by then in his twenties, was working in a state-funded group home. W 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. 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. That's no secret, as news stories in The Christian. Former students said their communication with parents and local authorities was censored. The 57-year-old is currently facing charges of second-degree statutory sodomy . (Clemensen says this was a nickname the boys had for an elbow injury, and denies the abuse.) But in some states that have tried to close this oversight gap in recent years, like Montana, lawmakers have met with resistance. 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. Gaither says at this point, they dont know if there will be any charges. The Clemenson family, who currently runs Agape, has been shut down in two states due to abuse allegations but no charges were ever made. Still, administrators at many of these schools insist they are a force for good. We want to hear it. KANSAS CITY (AP) Maggie Drew's dad sent her to Circle . One of them is Robert Graves, a student turned staffer who joined as a sheriffs deputy and married Kathy and Jims daughter, and is listed as a member of the board of an Agap-affiliated church. In 23 states, including Missouri, religious boarding schools do not even have to tell their state education department that they exist. It will stop providing service effective Jan. 20, according to a statement from the school for boys. Then-Attorney General Eric Schmitt's office contended that 22 workers should have been charged, and with more serious crimes. 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 . 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. After the state removed students from the school in August, Circle of Hope voluntarily . Circle of Hope was opened in 2006 by Boyd Householder, a former Agap employee, as a school for rebellious teenage girls. That shouldn't be happening., If not, he added, kids are going to wind up losing their lives.. (The recommendations are not public, so the implicated staff members are unknown.) Families looking to adopt are invited to meet, play, and talk to these children, and we need help putting it on. Many Stockton residents consider Agap a mark of honor. Contact Jorden Tramp, Donor Relations & Event Coordinator at jorden@agaperanch.org or click the button below. State regulates church boarding schools after abuse allegations. For example, Arkansas allows boarding schools and child welfare agencies operated solely by a religious organization to be exempt from licensing. Several former staffers opened up similar schools nearby: There was the Legacy Academy Adventures, on a property owned by David Smock, Agaps longtime doctor who would later be accused of molesting students; there was the Masters Ranch Christian Academy, which later opened two more campuses. They led to a front-page story in the Cedar County Republican. Jim and Kathy Clemensen a married couple whom people call Brother Clemensen and Maam started Agap in the early 1990s. Youre going to be dead or in prison three months after you turn 18.. 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. Amanda, then 29, says her parents kicked her out when she was 17. Agape Boarding School in Stockton has been the subject of state and local investigations and several lawsuits from former students. Clemensen said the decision to close "is voluntary and solely due to the lack of financial resources to continue caring for the boys.". His outrage became open defiance. Boyd and Stephanie Householders daughter says they worked at Agape for four years. Agape Boarding School was moving away from the "nonbelievers" in Washington and California and heading east. Attendance at Agape plummeted after abuse allegations surfaced. Exposing Agape is about exactly what it's name says. Staff called it the intake or restraint room. Anne Stych June 27, 2022. 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. 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. Graves did not respond to a request for comment. Minnesota has even less control. There is no cost to you, not even if you enroll in any school we might mention to you. His religious mother wasnt having it. 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. We felt they needed God in their lives. The state, he says, had no clue how to get to a kids heart.. When 19-year-old Rebekah Cooper started her mission, she had to give up her first name . Send us a tip using our anonymous form. This results in many children being separated from their siblings and the only community that they know. One deposed student describes attempting to jump off a staircase at Agap in a gesture of suicidal desperation which prompted a staffer to grab him, throw him six feet across the floor, sit on his back, and bash his head into the floor multiple times, leaving him in a pile of snot and blood, while screaming, Is this what you want? (Agap confirms restraining the student, but says it was not a form of abuse but an attempt to prevent harm to the boy.) Another former student said under oath that he was yanked out of bed and slammed to the floor for waking up late, kicked and punched in the balls by former dean of students Julio Sandoval, and kicked in the ribs and face in front of the rest of the school by Bryan Clemensen. UPDATE (Feb. 12, 2021, 2:33 p.m. Askins reached out to Child Protective Services and then shared the video with the Householders estranged daughter, Amanda. Wednesday afternoon, a House committee questions Missouri Department of Social Services leaders about their investigations into boarding schools. But he struggled at home. Schrag says he tried to escape around 2007, when he was 15. 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! 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. The posts went viral even receiving a thumbs-up from Paris Hilton. 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. 1.0 Stephen H. Winter Haven, FL. Agap did not respond to repeated requests for comment and interviews via phone, email and a letter left at the schools reception desk. And its not just Missouri. Though Ms. Allred's office has spent months soliciting a cash settlement, we were unaware that a suit would be filed. 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). Jan. 23, 2023. . Hed hoped to get kicked out, which didnt happen. 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.. In the ensuing chaos, a third pulled the fire alarm. Agape Ranch and Boarding School near Stockton, Missouri, a facility operated by Agape Baptist Church. The next evening, a man found Jacob begging for change at a neighboring county supermarket 10 miles from Blue Creek and called Clay County Child Protective Services. Agape Treatment Center offers Drug and Alcohol Rehab as well as Primary Mental Health Treatment. 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. 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. Address . The most surprising thing is that nothing has been done so far to change anything, Ingle said. The term encompasses various facilities and programs, including youth residential treatment centers, wilderness programs, boot camps, and therapeutic boarding schools.. In 2021, Agape's longtime doctor, David Smock, was charged with child sex crimes and five employees were charged with low-level abuse counts. ON SEPT. 7, 2022, ATTORNEY GENERAL SCHMITT and the State Department of Social Services (DSS) filed to close Agap. At least two other states Montana and Arkansas carve out licensing exemptions for religious facilities. Updated: Dec 13, 2022 / 12:48 PM CST. An investigation into the school began after The Star reported on the abuse allegations last year. He is living in California with his mother, Jennifer, and attending a public high school. 24, 2021 at 10:23 AM PDT | Updated: Mar. The Missouri AG launched a joint investigation with Cedar County authorities. And I did get saved.. On March 9, 2021, AG Schmitt announced 102 charges against the Householders, including rape and physical abuse. I was sheltered, Breshears says. Surprise! A judge ordered the school closed only to put the order on hold after Agap fired the staffer in question. It appeared to be a vast improvement over his previous digs. 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