TROUBLING

Christian Boarding School Allegedly Deprived Girls of Food and Water: Report

Cedar County authorities are investigating Circle of Hope Girls’ Ranch, long plagued by allegations of abuse and neglect.

In a case with echoes of the real-life Florida saga that inspired the award-winning 2019 novel The Nickel Boys, a southwestern Missouri Christian boarding school for troubled girls is under investigation following a new influx of allegations of neglect and abuse. Local sheriff’s deputies in Cedar County conducted a search Thursday of the Circle of Hope Girls’ Ranch, a reform school guided by fundamentalist Baptist values, The Kansas City Star reports. In mid-August, authorities removed 25 girls from the school after one 17-year-old, retrieved by her parents, gave testimony about conditions inside to a sheriff’s deputy. Former students describe being deprived of food and water, given little to no formal instruction, made to perform manual labor, and forced to stare at “The Wall” until told otherwise. They have also started a Facebook group named “Circle of Hope Recovery Group.” Since the school is faith-based, Missouri’s social services do not have jurisdiction over the school’s operations, although The Kansas City Star was able to confirm with them four substantiated reports of abuse and neglect, including physical and sexual abuse. Amanda Householder, daughter of the school’s founders and a former student, said the school has been under some form of investigation as far back as 2007, the year after it opened.