Leaders and lawmakers in Missouri must do more to protect vulnerable youth inside the state’s unlicensed boarding schools, advocates said at a Thursday news conference in Kansas City.
And that should start, they said, with Attorney General Andrew Bailey. He could do more to bring attention to the alleged abuse at schools across the state, said David Clohessy, former national director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.
“He can and should use his bully pulpit and his resources to shout from the rooftops to parents, ‘Be careful, look hard and think twice before sending your kids to one of these facilities,’” Clohessy said. “No matter how slick and nice the website might be and no matter how frustrated and overwhelmed you might feel.
“He can and should take that simple immediate step to warn parents.”
During the news conference outside the federal courthouse in Kansas City, Clohessy announced a new lawsuit filed on behalf of a former Agape Boarding School student who alleges that staff at the school abused him about a decade ago at the Cedar County facility.
Thursday’s event was the fourth news conference this week addressing what organizers say is an urgent need for action. Former students also spoke in St. Louis, Springfield and Jefferson City.
Clohessy and Amanda Householder, whose parents ran Circle of Hope Girls Ranch in Cedar County and now face 99 felony counts that include statutory rape and physical abuse, said Bailey has failed to take a strong stand against alleged abuse inside the state’s unlicensed boarding schools.
They point to another boarding school, ABM Ministries’ Lighthouse Christian Academy in southeast Missouri, that closed earlier this year after allegations of abuse surfaced and the owners were charged with kidnapping.
Rebecca Randles, a Kansas City attorney who has handled many boarding school abuse cases, attended the news conference. As lawsuits pile up against Agape and Circle of Hope — more than 60 have been filed in state and federal courts — it’s past time for Missouri to do something, Randles said.
“The legislature needs to move, needs to work,” she said. “Children are being harmed in the state of Missouri right now. We need to get busy and stop this.”
Randles said it can be stopped in a “number of ways.” Those include, she said, requiring boarding schools to be accredited or licensed by the state, “so we know who they are and what they’re doing.” Second, she said, is to make sure the Department of Social Services is given the authority to enter and investigate schools where allegations are made.
“And the third is that the attorney general has to have the authority and the power to investigate schools like this that are engaging in cross-county and interstate commerce, for trafficking of children,” Randles said. “Those three things are easy, and they can be done.”
Clohessy added that Bailey should have a “zoom call with 20 or 30 of these courageous victims, and just hear their pain. That alone can be extraordinarily healing.”
Bailey’s office said the attorney general continues to focus on the alleged abuse inside boarding schools.
“We are prosecuting the Householder case,” said Madeline Sieren, a spokeswoman with the AG’s Office, in an email to The Star. “We have brought 100 counts against the defendants, we have three full-time prosecutors on the case, and will be going to trial in a matter of months.”
Boyd and Stephanie Householders’ trial is scheduled to start Oct. 28 in Cedar County and last up to three weeks. They are charged with a combined 99 felonies that include physical and sexual abuse and neglect.
Amanda Householder, who has become a voice for abuse survivors of Missouri’s boarding schools, said she plans to attend the trial.
“It’s such a complex issue that it’s really hard to explain,” she said of going to the trial. “I just know that I am going to be extremely — I don’t want to say happy — but like, proud of the work we’ve done. But at the same time, it’s going to be really hard watching.”
When it comes to the attorney general’s involvement, Sierens said the office doesn’t have “original jurisdiction” to prosecute criminal cases.
“We move in to prosecute when we’ve been appointed as a special prosecutor by the governor (typically after a local prosecutor asks for an assist) or when a court appoints us due to a local conflict,” she said. “As a former prosecutor, Attorney General Bailey takes crime very seriously. We have seen a 133% increase in requests from local law enforcement and prosecutors to prosecute cases since AG Bailey took office.”
The Star has investigated unlicensed boarding schools in southern Missouri since late summer 2020. Former students of those facilities have said they were subjected to physical restraints, extreme workouts, long days of manual labor, and food and water withheld as punishment.
And, they said, former students endured constant berating and mind games and some were physically and sexually abused by staff and other youth.
In 2021, five Agape staffers were charged with low-level felonies of physically assaulting students. Three pleaded guilty to lesser misdemeanors and received two years’ probation. The cases of two others were dismissed.
And David Smock, a Stockton doctor who for many years treated students at Agape, was charged in late 2021 and 2022 with more than a dozen child sex crimes in two counties. He remains in custody, and those cases are still in court.
Circle of Hope closed in September 2020 amid an investigation in allegations against the Householders. Agape closed in January 2023, the fourth and final unlicensed Christian boarding school in Cedar County to close since September 2020.
Missouri legislators overwhelmingly passed a law in 2021 that required Missouri’s unlicensed boarding schools to register with the state, submit to health and safety inspections and conduct background checks on all employees.
But the schools still don’t have to be licensed by the state because of a 1982 law that allows religious organizations to claim an exemption from Missouri’s licensing requirement. Attempts to remove that exemption over the years have been met with strong opposition from critics who say it would interfere with religious freedom.
Just last month, former students stood outside Bailey’s Jefferson City office and implored him to intervene.
In a hand-delivered letter, the students called on Bailey to launch a state-wide investigation and warn parents about what they say has gone on inside some of these schools for far too long.
They also want Bailey to contact prosecutors in counties where the schools are located and urge them to conduct their own investigations.
Clohessy said the group was underwhelmed with Bailey’s response.
In a letter, the attorney general thanked them for reaching out to his office.
“I am grateful for your valuable input,” Bailey wrote. “The input of sincere, involved citizens is vital to good government, and your comments and suggestions regarding the issues facing our state are always welcome.”
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