Originally published in the Columbia Missourian on Apr. 24, 2022.
Robert Bucklin used to write home from the Agape Boarding School, talking about how much he wanted to die. He hinted at the physical and sexual abuse that was going on.
But the letters were returned to him. At the top of one was a sticky note, he said, where an employee flagged that it couldn’t be mailed. It was full of lies, the note stated, and Bucklin needed to rewrite them.
Bucklin arrived at Agape at the age of 13, where he said he remained trapped for five and a half years. During his time there, the school would bar communication and visitation between attendees and their parents.
“They were allowed to tell parents, ‘Oh, you can’t see your son. You can’t come here and pick him up or talk to him,’” he said.
Agape, a Christian boarding school, has been the focus on an abuse investigation, and stories like Bucklin’s were one of the driving forces behind the passage of legislation last year that required employee background checks and other measures for the homes, which had previously been unregulated.
Religious boarding schools now have to register with the Department of Social Services. The attorney general and local prosecutor have the authority to remove kids from any school in Missouri if they think they’re in danger, or if abuse is happening.
But a year after those hearings, Bucklin, who is one of several former Agape residents who filed lawsuits alleging abuse last year, feels like nothing has changed.
“Part of me is starting to feel like it was more of a PR stunt than actual meaning behind it,” said Bucklin. “Why sign (the law) if you’re not gonna enforce it?”
Charged, still working
Agape’s doctor has been charged with child sex crimes, and five employees are accused of assault, though Missouri’s attorney general recommended that many more workers should have been charged, The Associated Press has reported.
Three of those accused employees are still working at Agape. State Rep. Keri Ingle, D-Lee’s Summit, is working with the Department of Social Services to see if this is something that needs to be fixed legislatively.
Bucklin said it’s outrageous that those workers are still at Agape. “Any public school in the United States where a teacher is charged for accused sex, physical abuse, they’re immediately put on leave,” he said. “I don’t think that’s the law, it’s like the unwritten norm to protect victims and to protect future victims, but these people are still working at the school.”
Ingle didn’t learn about the employees from a government liaison, but from two reporters who reached out to her.
Change is incremental, especially when bureaucracies are involved, said Ingle.
“You feel like you are reaching the top of a mountain when you get a big piece of legislation like this passed, she said. “Especially against so much opposition, and then, the amount of time it takes to be implemented, and watching, whether or not all parties are following the law, that part is frustrating.”
The new law
In 2020, the Missouri legislature became aware of unregulated and unlicensed religious residential facilities for kids. People with previous convictions and prior findings of child abuse, neglect, sexual assault and several other horrific charges were working with children. Basic safety measures like fire and health codes were overlooked.
Last year, Gov. Mike Parson signed House Bills 57 and 60, which gave the Department of Social Services, attorney general and local prosecutors the authority to file an emergency injunction to remove the students from any school in Missouri if they’re in danger or if abuse is happening. The legislation also gave the state the opportunity to go to court and obtain the right to visit the school in question.
“That stopped people from other states coming in here or who have a history of abuse and all that. And more importantly, it set the tone that Missouri is not the state for pedophiles to land,” said Rep. Rudy Veit, R-Wardsville.
Obstacles faced
Originally the idea was to get it all done in 60 days, but the completion of background checks is still a work in progress.
Contrary to public perception, the process of running a background check on someone isn’t easy. Not just anybody can go through the process, and there are limits to how much information can be shared between the government and the employer.
“We’re having to work with employers to get access to their applications and the state getting their access to another set of applications,” said Veit.
A large number of vacancies in the Children’s Division is another reason for the hold-up.
“It has never been this bad in the history of the division where they have the amount of turnover that they have,” said Ingle.
Ingle’s background is in child welfare, and she worked as a social worker in the Children’s Division for many years. According to her, there are details that the Department of Social Services and the Children’s Division can’t talk about, so members of the public might not understand how much has been accomplished.
“Things are happening that can’t be broadcast just because of the sensitive nature of them. Anytime we’re talking about investigations that involve minors, the protection of those minors is paramount, and so that’s the reason why that information’s protected and can’t be shared,” Ingle said.
“I do have faith in the directors of this department, these departments, that they are going to do what they need to do to keep kids safe, and to fulfill the spirit of the law. I do have, I do have that trust in them that they’re going to do that,” Ingle said.
What now?
Veit has sponsored a bill that passed the House designed to fix some of the background check issues.
“It’s a balancing act between protecting individual rights, protecting religious rights and the highest priority, try to protect the safety and well-being of the children,” he said.
Ingle is involved in a small coalition of lawmakers whose primary focus is child welfare policy. More bill proposals may be on the way.
“We haven’t just walked away from it; we’re staying on it, and as new things come to us, we’re making whatever legislation we need to accomplish the goal,” said Veit.
Bucklin promises he’ll keep fighting until they do.
“We were abandoned at the school,” he said, “and we just don’t want those kids to be abandoned.”
