JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — State Rep. Sarah Unsicker, D-Shrewsbury, filed a bill Wednesday to require the licensure of all residential care facilities in Missouri.
Unsicker filed the legislation due to a deluge of legal action taken against Agape and the former owners of the Circle of Hope Girls Ranch by former students, arguing that religious boarding schools — which are currently exempt from licensure — should still be able to show appropriate care for children under their supervision.
“The horrifying and persistent allegations of endemic abuse, neglect, sexual assault and even trafficking of children that has happened at these boarding schools for decades starkly illustrates the state’s need to supervise these facilities to a greater extent,” Unsicker said. “Missouri is currently powerless to prevent these atrocities from happening until after they have occurred, but licensure would give the Department of Social Services more power to ensure children remain protected.”
The Missouri Attorney General’s office and the Children’s Division of the Department of Social Services have filed petitions for injunction alleging systemic abuse of children.
In 2021, the Missouri House passed House Bill 557 and 560 to give the Department of Social Services oversight over Missouri’s unlicensed residential care facilities, provide parents with full-time access to their children in such a facility, require background checks for facility employees, and provide legal avenues for the attorney general to shut down facilities that create or fail to maintain a safe environment for children.
However, HB 557 and 560 did not mandate licensure for these boarding schools.
“Religion is not an excuse to abuse children,” Unsicker said. “For far too long, bad actors have taken advantage of our lax licensure laws to commit horrible crimes against vulnerable children.
“If that’s not reason enough to change these laws, I don’t know what is.”
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