‘Corporate shell games’? Missouri AG says Agape plans group homes to avoid oversight
As the Missouri attorney general urges a judge to close Agape Boarding School, two school staff members have filed paperwork to open group homes on the campus’ Cedar County property.
That revelation came in a last-minute motion filed by the AG’s office Friday afternoon asking the court to delay a hearing scheduled for Monday in the wake of the new developments, which the state says only intensify concerns for student safety. The judge granted the delay late Friday; a new hearing date hasn’t been scheduled.
The AG’s office is working closely with the Department of Social Services to sift through the new information a child welfare worker learned during a conversation Thursday with Agape director Bryan Clemensen.
“Agape’s director reported that the program is changing away from a boarding school-type facility,” the AG’s motion said. “Starting Tuesday, September 27, 2022, the boys will be in five group homes on the property with an intention of nine boys per home.”
The two staff members — Jennifer and Jason Derksen — filed the paperwork with the Missouri Secretary of State on Sept. 15, describing their new nonprofit, Stone of Help, as a “Home for Troubled Youth.” The address for Stone of Help and the Derksens is on the Agape property and next to the current unlicensed boarding school.
“The State will not allow Agape to escape accountability or continue to present an immediate health and safety concern to children through corporate shell games,” the AG’s motion said, “while employing the same people and methods that originally led the State to bring this action to protect children.”
Friday’s developments are just the latest in the saga that has unfolded since Sept. 7 when the AG’s office and DSS filed a petition to close the school over concerns about the students’ safety. Child welfare officials had learned that a current staff member had just been placed on the Central Registry for child abuse and neglect, and state law doesn’t allow anyone with a substantiated report to work at a residential facility.
Within hours, Judge David Munton signed that order calling for the immediate closure of Agape. But the next morning, as the AG’s office and DSS were prepared to execute the order, Munton put it on hold, saying he wanted to confirm that the staffer was still at the school near Stockton.
He sent Cedar County Sheriff James “Jimbob” McCrary to the school to find out, and Clemensen told McCrary that he had fired that staffer on Sept. 7 and the worker no longer lived on the school’s property.
That day, Munton ordered that DSS workers be allowed inside Agape around the clock to ensure the boys there remain safe. Friday’s motion asked the court to allow that access to continue.
Since then, there have been two court hearings — on Wednesday and Sept. 12 — where recent students were ready to take the stand and the AG’s office was prepared to present evidence on why the school should close. Munton refused to let the recent students testify and repeatedly delayed action.
Friday’s motion included information that the AG’s office became aware of after 10:15 Friday morning — details that a DSS employee gleaned from a conversation with Clemensen Thursday afternoon. The information was also backed up with paperwork filed with the Secretary of State’s Office more than a week ago.
Attorneys with the AG’s office contacted Agape’s attorney, John Schultz, about the group home development. According to an email exchange with the AG’s Office, Schultz said, “that is the first I’ve heard of it.”
Caitlin Whaley, DSS’ director of policy and communications, reiterated Friday that the agency wouldn’t be taking the court action if it didn’t think students were in danger.
“As our petitions lay out, there’s a clear pattern of abusive behavior at the facility by individuals who have worked there,” Whaley said. “DSS would assume that individuals would not perpetrate abuse while being actively watched by child welfare investigators.
“We are very afraid of what’s going to happen if our injunction is denied and those (Children’s Division) workers leave. These kids have limited access to the outside world. If our injunction is denied and these kids are left with these individuals, who’s going to look out for them if we’re not there?”
Schultz told The Star he believes the state has another reason for asking for the stay.
“They can not prove that the students at Agape face any immediate, irreparable harm — because they don’t,” Schultz said in an email. “In addition to our employees providing line of sight supervision 24/7, two Children’s Division workers have also done so for the last two weeks.
“The students at Agape are being safely cared for now and they have been for the past 30 years.”
According to Friday’s motion, Clemensen “reported that Agape will have a max of 45 boys by Tuesday, September 27, 2022.”
There were 53 students listed on Thursday’s census, it said.
“Agape’s director further reported that any staff member with a mark beside their name on the census would no longer be working at Agape after Monday, September 26, 2022. The State counted at least 12 names with marks beside them.”
