Thread by @DJSugi

Right now the Missouri Legislature is having a hearing on HB560 & 557 which seek to outlaw religious exemptions regulating residential care facilities & foster homes. Way to go, survivors, for speaking out! @TalkTroubled @AllenKnoll2 @Batmanda4ever
sg001-harmony.sliq.net/00325/Harmony/…

A woman just told the MO Legislator of a fellow pregnant survivor who was made to drink Epsom salts at MS’s Bethesda until she miscarried. @TalkTroubled @BreakingCodeSi1 #religiousreform #hb557 #hb560

A legislator apologized to @AllenKnoll2 for abuse MO’s #AgapeBoarding. “I’m sorry they did that in the name of Christ, because that is not what Christ is about.”
Unfortunately, as a survivor, I disagree. Often these schools abuse kids in name of Christ. @C_Stroop @TalkTroubled

“If a girl was dyslexic and didn’t read the Bible, she didn’t eat. We had forced fasting. They read our letters. You didn’t say the right thing, they beat you. Said the wrong thing on the phone, they beat you.” #MOpol #breakingcodesilence

“We heard it over that we were worthless that we were trash. That’s what we left thinking.” Mississippi’s Bethesda closed down and opened in Missouri as Mountain Park where a student was killed because of MO’s lack of legislation.

A survivor of Rebekah home for Girls/Roloff Enterprises(Lester Roloff v Texas), circa 1976, testifies of horrific abuse in God’s name & how many former staff went on to start religious reform schools where the cycle of abuse was continued.

“They did not believe in the laws of the state but the King James Bible. We were beaten black and blue. I do not want any child to go through what I went through.”

Another survivor of a religious school, age 41, former honor student, recounts children being coerced into abusing other children, of being starved, of watching girls being forced to eat vomit.

She recounts being put on silence, literally having duct tape put over her mouth for seven days, only removed for meals and showers. She describes being suicidal. #BreakingCodeSilence #religiousreform

No accreditation, no licensing, just baptists
“They did everything they could to break me”
“You have no idea of what goes in these places”
-Victory Christian Academy, 1996-97

From survivor named David, of Bethel Boys Academy, still a Christian- recounts how survivors like me are no longer Christians. “What you are hearing, does this sound like love? Is this what Jesus would want you to do? Stop it here, stop it nationally.”

Shelva Thomas Jackson sent her son to MO’s Master’s Ranch, where he was abused. He told her “if I could withstand masters I could withstand anything.”
She went on to work for the facility & described kids being restrained. Kids being bitten. Being forced to defecate in the barn.

“You used my son as a slave and every other kid there for your benefit” referring to the work conditions on David Bosely’s Master’s Ranch. She drove all night to testify. “Do something please!”

She chose Missouri’s Master Ranch because it was affordable, “the cheapest” at $42000 for his stay.
She describes how her son was denied opportunities because of his experience at MR, owned by David Bosely, who operates several ranches in MO.

This parent describes how her son’s faith was destroyed by his experience at MR, which she compares to David Koresh and Waco.
deardream.com

Amanda O’Brien née Householder is daughter of Circle of Hope’s Boyd Householder, a ranch in MO. She describes at 15 being made to act as a staff member, restraining friends her age for stupid things like...

A pair of siblings were not allowed to look at each other. If they looked at each other, they were restrained for hours. One had a mental disability and was on lowest level because she could not conform. She was there for 13 years til she was 30!

Amanda was kicked out it at 17 because she told a 5 year old her mother wasn’t going to hell for wearing pants.

If she hadn’t been kicked out, she might still have been there.

She turned to drugs to survive after due to trauma.

She concludes saying if her parents couldn’t help their own daughter, how could they help other kids?

Jessica Sykes is director of public policy for MO Kids First. These schools came on her radar in august due to @TalkTroubled #exposingcircleofhope activism. She says this legislation is critical for oversight of these facilities.

MO is one of two states without oversight due to religious exemption. For 20 years MO has known religious exemptions keep kids from being protected in residential care facilities. “It’s time. I don’t want to see another 20 years go by.”

Sykes says one hurdle is that schools are in remote areas. Also that there is no way for parents to know these schools are abusive. No impetus for reform. Speaks of a breakdown in investigative process.
Note- Survivors speak of links between law enforcement & schools like Agape.

Another witness- “We are still leaving the ability for religious abilities to be unlicensed. This is the bare minimum- background check, we need to see the children if there is allegation of abuse, if there is abuse and neglect we need to be able to shut you down.”

“This is not church vs state or state vs church. This is state v people hurting kids.” This is someone from the office of child advocates.

Speaking of the breakdown in reporting abuse, she says she hears, “nobody believed me.”

She talks of the time it takes for survivors to come forward. Of the belief that survivors are “bad” and no one believes them.

Of lack of communication and clarity between professionals in investigating abuse.

Emily Van Shank off?, Children’s Trust Fund, begins hearing speaking of shame that this abuse has gone on for so long. Talks about how bad actors and predators who want to get close to children, and how we have let evildoers and wrong doers come through this fence (of protection)

And hurt vulnerable children. “For far too long we have discounted the voices of survivors,” she says and encourages the state to support HB557& 560.

David Bosley of Master’s Ranch, was mentioned several times in the MO testimony. He runs 3 “Christian reform schools” in Missouri & is accused in WA lawsuit of molesting sisters in two churches where he was the pastor.
kansascity.com/news/state/mis…
kansascity.com/news/state/mis…

Finally, this is a link to a petition to close down #AgapeBoarding Please sign it! #iseeyousurvivor #BreakingCodeSilence @TalkTroubled @BreakingCodeSi1
change.org/p/agape-boardi…

Early in the hearing @RepKeriIngle pointed out that “when you label a kid troubled or bad... it makes it that no one is likely to believe them and sets them up for more abuse.”
#MoPol #talktroubled #breakingcodesilence

While testifying, @AllenKnoll2, survivor of #AgapeBoarding, told how he was “that boy who was restrained for 2 months straight...”If I kick a dog, there is more outrage than what is going on in this state,” referring to abuse happening to kids in religious facilities.