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After Christian camp scandal, Missouri lawmakers want to make it easier to sue over child abuse

Trailers for a Kanakuk organization program line up at a facility in Hollister, Missouri in the Branson area on May 21, 2022.
Gregory Holman
/
KSMU
Trailers for a Kanakuk organization program line up at a facility in Hollister, Missouri in the Branson area on May 21, 2022.

In the wake of child sex abuse incidents at southwest Missouri’s Kanakuk Christian sports camp, Branson-area lawmakers are filing bills in the Missouri House and Senate aimed at making it easier to file lawsuits seeking damages from perpetrators.

Missouri State Rep. Brian Seitz and state Sen. Brad Hudson, both Republicans representing the Branson area, each filed three bills related to child sex abuse this January.

"The fact that some of these circumstances happened in the Branson area has really put it on the front burner for me," Seitz told Ozarks Public Radio. "Because it happened right there in our town. And if we can stop it from happening anywhere else, or bring these people who have done this heinous crime to get their justice, we’re going to do that.”

In 2010, former Kanakuk camp director Peter Newman was convicted on eight charges of sexually abusing six children. The now 49-year-old Newman was an employee at the camp from 1995 until Kanakuk fired him in 2009. He is now serving two life sentences at the Jefferson City Correctional Center, plus an additional 30 years.

Since 2021, reporting by news outlets including the Springfield News-Leader, The Dispatch and USA TODAY has highlighted claims by people who say they were abused as children at Kanakuk, along with claims that the camp has employed several alleged abusers.


But Seitz and Hudson’s new legislative proposals don’t address Missouri’s criminal laws related to sex crimes against kids.

Their goal is to make it easier for survivors of child sexual abuse to file civil lawsuits seeking damages (including money) from abusers — or from those deemed to have enabled abusers, like an employer.

Branson state Rep. Brian Seitz, a Republican, speaks at a press conference on January 18, 2024.
Michele Skalicky/KSMU
Branson state Rep. Brian Seitz, a Republican, speaks at a press conference on January 18, 2024.

If passed, the bills would also ban nondisclosure agreements, or NDAs, in child sex abuse cases. NDAs often come up when lawsuits get settled privately, away from the open scrutiny that comes with public courts of justice.

People who say they were sexually abused at Kanakuk have repeatedly claimed the camp uses NDAs to “silence victims of child sex abuse.”

Ozarks Public Radio repeatedly sought comment from Kanakuk camp for this report, including from leaders Joe White and Debbie-Jo White.

In response, the camp emailed an unsigned written statement as follows: “Kanakuk is wholly committed to our mission of equipping next generation Christian leaders. As we adhere to this, the real and profound pain endured by victims of sexual assault leaves us rightfully heartbroken. We continue to support the right of all victims to share their story.”

Changing the constitution

Meanwhile, Sen. Hudson and Rep. Seitz have also filed resolutions that would ask Missouri voters to change their state constitution to permit retroactive civil lawsuits filed by childhood victims against their abusers.

Hudson and Seitz propose setting up an exception to constitutional bans on “ex post facto” laws; in other words, laws that would be retroactive in time. These are explicitly banned by the Missouri Constitution’s Article 1, including when it comes to “impairing the obligation of contracts.”

Missouri state Sen. Brad Hudson (second from right) at a hearing of the Families, Seniors and Health Committee on January 22, 2025.
Courtesy Sen. Brad Hudson official Facebook page
Missouri state Sen. Brad Hudson (second from right) at a hearing of the Families, Seniors and Health Committee on January 22, 2025.

In the U.S. Constitution, ex post facto laws are banned on both federal and state levels, in separate clauses appearing in sections 9 and 10 of Article 1.

But Seitz and Hudson’s proposals would allow this type of law in Missouri to “be enacted only as to civil childhood sexual abuse claims,” in the words of Hudson’s Senate Joint Resolution 51, filed Jan. 21. (Seitz filed a similar resolution, HJR 58, a week earlier.)

“For me, this is all about protecting kids — making Missouri a safe place for children, a safe place for families, making sure we are not a sanctuary state for pedophiles,” Hudson told Ozarks Public Radio on Thursday. (Rep. Seitz’s son, Daniel Seitz, serves as Hudson’s chief of staff.)

Hudson stressed he wants voters to have the opportunity to weigh in on his proposed constitutional change.

Seitz said he believes a ballot measure changing the state constitution to allow an ex post facto law would pass because his proposed amendment would be “narrowly tailored” to only permit retroactive civil lawsuits by victims of childhood sex abuse.

And, he says he believes the judicial branch of government would go along with it — up to and including the U.S. Supreme Court.

Seitz told KSMU Tuesday, "I don't think there's anyone on any court, I don't think there are any legislators — be it here in Missouri or Washington, D.C. — that would not allow for these now-adult individuals to go after the people that committed this horrific crime. And that's something I think we can get done here in Missouri, and let us be first, for a change, in doing something here in the United States.”

Seitz added that with the United States now under a “new regime” — his words — he sees President Donald Trump as ushering in “a new sense of optimism in the country.”

“I think he’s a very common-sense president,” the Branson lawmaker said. “If something's right, it's right. And in this case, to protect those adult children, to provide them recourse, is something that it's the right thing to do — and if we have to take it all the way to the Supreme Court, that's what we're going to do.”

The four bills sponsored by Seitz and Hudson — HB 709, HB 883, SB 589 and SB 590 — would have to earn majorities of votes in both the Republican-controlled Missouri House and Senate, then be signed by Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe, also a Republican.

It’s not clear whether these proposals can get majorities in the Missouri General Assembly or support from Republican leadership; both houses are controlled by Republican supermajorities.

KSMU was unsuccessful in obtaining comment on the bills’ prospects from the offices of House Speaker Jon Patterson and Senate President Pro Tem Cindy O’Laughlin by deadline.

But Seitz and Hudson’s two proposed resolutions — HJR 58 and SJR 51 — would require a simple majority of state voters to approve them, if they can first pass with majority votes in the state House and Senate. Because they’re joint resolutions, the governor’s signature isn’t required on them — as it would be for an ordinary bill.

On the federal level, a U.S. law signed in 2022 by former President Joe Biden protects child sex abuse victims in terms of their right to file for civil damages, ending the statute of limitations. The Biden-era law continues to be in effect and covers numerous offenses like sex trafficking or the production of child sex assault media.

But it only applies in federal courts. It doesn’t affect lawsuits over violations of state law.

Family of man abused at Kanakuk reacts

A major voice of the community of Kanakuk abuse survivors and their families hailed the proposed Missouri legislation.

“We love it, as a survivor community, that Seitz and Hudson are behind this legislation,” Texas advocate Elizabeth Carlock Phillips told Ozarks Public Radio.

Carlock Phillips is not a survivor of child sex abuse associated with the Branson-area Christian sports camp.

But her brother, Trey Carlock, was.

Trey died by suicide in 2019 at age 29. In his obituary, the family disclosed that Trey “was a Kanakuk Kamps abuse survivor and for years fought valiantly against the trauma he suffered.”

Elizabeth Carlock Phillips says her brother had to abide by a nondisclosure agreement with Kanakuk, which increased his psychological trauma before his death.

Since her brother died, Carlock Phillips has had a major role with an advocacy group, Facts About Kanakuk.

The group has publicized claims about sex abuse at the camp. They’ve called for reforms like the elimination of nondisclosure agreements, which they say silence victims. And they seek changes to Missouri statutes of limitations that would allow adults abused as children to file lawsuits later in life.

Scientific studies have shown that adults sexually abused as children often delay disclosure of the abuse they suffered until well into middle age, as late as 60 years old.

Carlock Phillips called Missouri’s existing statutes of limitations on child sex abuse lawsuits “unjust,” in a written statement sent to Ozarks Public Radio.

Under current Missouri law, a person abused during childhood has 10 years following their 21st birthday to sue an individual perpetrator.

But to sue a company or other organization deemed negligent, the victim has only 5 years after their 21st birthday.

Also in a written statement, Carlock Phillips said, “No child crime victim should be silenced about the harm they endured. The public needs to know who and where the bad actors are — and survivors hold that truth.”
Copyright 2025 KSMU


Gregory Holman
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