child abuse

Bipartisan supporters of the bill say that nondisclosure agreements are often used to silence underage victims and prevent them from speaking out. The bill is named for Trey Carlock, who was assaulted at a Christian summer camp in Branson and later died by suicide.

Sara Smith is in her first month as director of the Missouri Children’s Division, which oversees the state’s foster care system and child abuse investigations.

Last year, 314 foster children resided in hospitals and 85 are currently living in treatment centers out of state. A wide-ranging bill passed by the senate this week could save the state $13 million a year by moving them to facilities in Missouri.

Spurred by sexual abuse allegations at Branson-area Christian camps, the bill would extend the amount of time survivors have to file civil action against a perpetrator. Survivors would have until age 41 to file civil action, rather than age 31.

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.

Dozens of criminal charges for abuse have been filed against operators of Christian boarding schools in Missouri. Survivors say it was only because of TikTok that law enforcement and the Missouri Attorney General finally took action.

Incoming Missouri Senate President Pro Tem Cindy O’Laughlin said Missouri’s Children’s Division has failed in its core mission and needs to be restructured to protect vulnerable children.

Logan Yandell, a survivor of sexual abuse at Kanakuk Kamps in Branson, Missouri, alleges that the camp’s CEO misrepresented prior knowledge of past misconduct allegations in order to convince his parents to sign a non-disclosure agreement.

The former Jefferson County judge has served as the leader of the agency investigating child abuse and neglect since 2021. Missey inherited an agency with major staffing issues and a huge backlog of unfinished cases.

A new federal lawsuit filed against Circle of Hope Girls Ranch, a now-shuttered Christian boarding school in Missouri, says a 13-year-old girl faced “abuse, harassment, forced servitude, assault, fraud” and other mistreatment by the camp owners.

The Children’s Division is almost fully staffed now — a “remarkable turnaround” from the hundreds of vacancies it had in recent years. Now, the majority of overdue cases are from the Kansas City area.

Starting salaries for Missouri Children’s Division investigators are often much lower than those in other governments and the private sector.