Regretful ex-boarding school staffer speaks-SNAP news conf in Springfield MO
Regretful ex-staffer at Christian boarding school speaks for 1st time
As a 19 year old, she worked at controversial & now-shuttered ‘girls’ ranch’
She witnessed ‘dozens of youngsters being severely abused and mistreated’
Now, she’s sad and wants clergy to ‘help the victims & help the vulnerable’
She told a Spgfld pastor but says ‘he did nothing’ & said ‘don’t tell authorities’
Group will also hand-deliver a letter to the Baptist minister urging him to resign
SNAP to Ozark Council of Churches: ‘Use your pulpits to address abuse’
WHAT
At a sidewalk news conference, holding signs and childhood photos, a young Springfield native will express her regrets at ‘not having done enough’ to protect kids after watching dozens be badly abused and mistreated at a Christian boarding school where she worked.
She will also
-- ask ministers to speak out about the growing scandal at these schools, and
-- ask abuse survivors to ‘not give up on religion.’
Afterwards, abuse survivors will hand deliver two letters
--one to the Council of Churches, asking its members to ‘warn parents about these facilities, help protect kids and heal victims,’ and
--one to a local pastor, named as a defendant in at least two recent abuse lawsuits, urging that he resign from his Springfield church.
WHEN
Wednesday, Sept 18 at 1:00 p.m.
WHERE
On the sidewalk outside the Ozark Council of Churches headquarters, 3055 E. Division (corner of Packer) in Springfield, MO
WHO
A young Columbia woman who spent two years working under a now-disgraced couple who abused hundreds of children at Christian boarding schools, a Springfield survivor/therapist, and a St. Louis child sex abuse victim who for 30 years led SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org)
WHY
--1) At age 19, Adria Keim, who grew up in Springfield, spent two years working at the now-shuttered Circle of Hope Girls Ranch in Humansville (40 minutes from Springfield)..
Feeling inadequate and belittled and bullied by her supervisors, Keim watched as many girls were badly mistreated at the ranch and says she now ‘feels remorse’ over “being unable to take action sooner and protect and help these girls.” At one point, she reported the wrongdoing to her then-pastor but he did nothing.
She now lives in Columbia and works in health care.
--2) SNAP says the about two dozen controversial, largely unregulated Christian boarding schools are operating ‘mostly under the radar’ in rural parts of Missouri (especially in the southern part of the state.
“Hundreds of children have been physically, sexually and emotionally abused in these controversial facilities,” said David Clohessy of SNAP. “They’ve been hurt and betrayed by their supposed caregivers, and often by politicians and law enforcement. We want the faith community to speak out about these outrages.”
SNAP wants the Council of Churches to urge its members to “express support for the still vulnerable kids and still suffering survivors of these schools.”
--3) Earlier this month, in a civil lawsuit filed by an ex-boarding school victim, Rev. Jeff Ables of Springfield was again accused of ‘hiding children’ from DCFS” and refusing to report abuses to authorities even though he’d been told of the crimes as far back as 2008. At the time, Ables was on the board of Circle of Hope.
SNAP is calling on him to resign from his post as pastor of Berean Baptist Church (507 East Norton Rd., info@bereansgf.org, 417 833 1529).
--4) Next month, Missouri’s most notorious Christian boarding school abuser goes on trial facing 22 counts of child abuse and neglect. She is Stephanie Householder who, for years, along with her husband, ran two Christian boarding schools for ‘troubled kids’ in southern Missouri. (Before he died in June, her spouse Boyd was charged with 79 similar counts.)
https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/crime/article289535052.html
SNAP is begging other victims, witnesses and whistleblowers to contact the FBI or the Missouri attorney general’s office before the widely-anticipated trial begins next month in Stockton.
“Over decades, hundreds of kids suffered because of the Householders,” said David Clohessy of SNAP. “So please, don’t sit back and be silent. If you saw, suspected or suffered abuse at these schools, help prosecutors get her locked up by coming forward now to the attorney general’s office, local law enforcement or SNAP.”
Dozens of ex-students accuse the Householders of using “brutal restraints, excessive workouts in extreme temperatures, psychological and sexual abuse” and withholding food and water as punishment. According to the AP, 16 former residents said they were handcuffed, whipped with belts, had their mouths taped shut and were punched for minor offenses such as singing.
CONTACT
David Clohessy, 314 566 9790, davidgclohessy@gmail.com