A woman who says she fled horrific abuse at the hands of a boarding school run by her parents has now filed a civil lawsuit against them.
Amanda Householder, 31, filed a civil complaint last month accusing her parents, Circle of Hope founders Boyd and Stephanie Householder, as well as numerous other defendants, of working together to abuse children at their unlicensed ‘schools’ and ‘ranches’.
She accused the defendants, of Springfield in Missouri, of ‘supporting one another and failing to report the known abuses and/or covering up these abuses,’ according to the complaint which was obtained by the Springfield News-Leader.
The lawsuit detailed new abuse allegations against Boyd and Stephanie including forcing Householder to perform forced labor, beating her for their own sexual gratification, force-feeding her until she vomited and forcing her to impose punishments on other Circle of Hope students. Householder also claims a child adopted from Ukraine by her parents was cast out for an undisclosed transgression, and made to walk six miles along a remote road to the nearest town for help.
Boyd and Stephanie were charged last year with more than 100 felonies linked to allegations of child sex abuse, physical abuse, endangerment and neglect that took place at their ranch in Missouri.
Householder, who notes she the criminal statue of limitations expires against her parents about five years ago, said she is suing her parents to establish a precedent that one cannot abuse children. She is seeking undisclosed damages, but insists the case isn’t about money.
‘I mainly wanted to set a precedent so other people that are past their statute of limitations feel confident enough in trying to do that,’ she penned in an op-ed published Saturday in The Daily Beast. ‘To me, it’s not about the money. I don’t care whether I get money from this or not. It’s about setting a precedent and showing that you can’t do this. It doesn’t matter how long ago it f*****g happened. You can’t continue to do this.’
Amanda Householder, 31, filed a civil complaint last month accusing her parents, Circle of Hope founders Boyd and Stephanie Householder, as well as numerous other defendants, of working together to abuse children at their unlicensed ‘schools’ and ‘ranches’
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Amanda Householder, 31, filed a civil complaint last month accusing her parents, Circle of Hope founders Boyd and Stephanie Householder, as well as numerous other defendants, of working together to abuse children at their unlicensed ‘schools’ and ‘ranches’
Along with her parents, Householder is suing Circle of Hope Girls Ranch and Boarding School, nearby Baptist Agape Boarding School, its parent organization Agape Baptist Church and the church’s late founder James Clemensen.
The complaints also name former Circle of Hope board member Jeff Ables, who currently serves as the pastor at Berean Baptist Church in Springfield.
Householder has accused the aforementioned individuals and organizations of abusing children, as well as enabling and encouraging each other in their efforts to abuse children.
The suit also states that Householder was ‘subjected to physical and mental abuse and torture’ by her parents at Circle of Hope beginning when she was a was a minor child and ending around October 2017.
She outlined horrific accounts of alleged food deprivation, excruciating exercises and physical punishments.
‘Plaintiff and her brother were often sat on by their mother, restraining them while their father beat them with a whip or golf stick’ the lawsuit states. ‘They would pull the clothing of plaintiff and her brother down and beat them on their bare buttocks.’
Householder alleged that her parents seemed to get sexual gratification from the abuse, stating in the complaint: ‘At times, the parents would kiss as they switched positions to continue beating the children.
‘They appeared to get joy from the beatings. If the parents had been arguing, the beatings would calm them down and they would become loving toward each other.’
The complaint also states that Householder ‘never knew any other way of life beyond these schools and her parents’ actions’ which continue to impact her today.
In her-oped, Householder, a mother-of-two, shared an intimate moment in parenthood where she realized her parents’ alleged abuse has changed her core being.
‘When I had my son, it wasn’t until he was like one or two that he started acting like a kid,’ she wrote. ‘How I was raised, I was taught that if a child hits or bites or screams or anything like that, you spank them, because that’s just them acting out. And for a whole year and a half I had this perfect baby… But one day, he got mad at me and he hit me… And so I spanked my son.’
‘My husband was in the other room and came and he was like, “What happened?” And I explained to him and he grabbed my son from me. He’s like, “We do not hit kids.”‘
Householder explained how she and her children’s father, whom she refers to as her husband although they are not legally married, argued over the spanking, which opened her eyes.
It started a huge argument and he convinced me to get into therapy,’ she said. ‘It was really the people that I put in my life, that just happened to be in my life, that taught me that I was raised wrong.
‘They were caring and they showed me that I was raised wrong and this is not how we should be treating kids.’
The lawsuits also detailed new abuse allegations against Boyd (pictured) and Stephanie Householder including forcing Householder to perform forced labor, beating her for their own sexual gratification, fore-feeding her until she vomited and forcing her to impose punishments on other Circle of Hope students
The lawsuits also detailed new abuse allegations against Boyd (pictured) and Stephanie Householder including forcing Householder to perform forced labor, beating her for their own sexual gratification, fore-feeding her until she vomited and forcing her to impose punishments on other Circle of Hope students
Boyd and Stephanie (pictured) were charged last year with more than 100 felonies linked to allegations of child sex abuse, physical abuse, endangerment and neglect that took place at their ranch in Missouri
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Boyd and Stephanie (pictured) were charged last year with more than 100 felonies linked to allegations of child sex abuse, physical abuse, endangerment and neglect that took place at their ranch in Missouri
Householder, who escaped her parents’ alleged abuse when they kicked her out of their home when she was 17 years old, was a key whistleblower in shutting down Circle of Hope and the subsequent arrests of Boyd and Stephanie.
Her efforts to take down her parents began in 2015 as she started to reconnect with some of Circle of Hope’s former students. She had tried to apologize to the girls for her role in the abuse cycle.
Householder shared how an interaction with one student, who was adopted from Ukraine, spearheaded the operation.
‘She was at Circle of Hope at a time that I wasn’t there. And she hit me up and she’s like, “Hey, are you Amanda Householder?”… And I was like, “Why do you need me?” And she’s like, “Well, your parents kicked me out, and I’m homeless,”’ Householder recalled in her op-ed.
‘And I was like, “What do you mean my parents kicked [you] out and you’re homeless?” And she’s like, “Well, I was adopted out of Ukraine and my adopted parents don’t want me anymore and [are] not paying your parents anymore. So they gave me some clothes and a teddy bear and told me to walk.”’
Householder claims she was ‘really angered’ by her parents’ alleged treatment of the girl, noting how the victim had to walk six miles into town.
‘This is where I was like, no, we’re done, we’re exposing this. They made her walk six miles. Town is six miles away,’ Householder wrote. ‘We were always taught that if you ran away, those people know that you’re a horrible kid. If you go on their property, they’re going to shoot and kill you. That’s what we were f*****g taught.
‘My brain went to, first off, they’re kicking you out there and making you walk where all these people are going to shoot you… And second off, it’s on a freaking highway that truckers drive all the time…My brain went there, and then it went to sex trafficking. And I was like, “My parents don’t give a s**t about these girls.”’
Shortly after that call, Householder took her allegations against her parents to social media.
The couple’s adult daughter posted on Facebook sharing how ‘my parents abused girls, how they abused me growing up, and how I needed help figuring out how to get this girl into a safe place’. She was then contacted by someone who helped get the girl to safety.
‘Then a couple of weeks later, I found out through my brother that this wasn’t the first girl they did this to,’ Householder recalled. ‘So myself and another girl got together and put together a survivors group for Circle of Hope girls.’
The group spent several years trying to get authorities to help them, but despite the decades of reports to Child Protective Services and law enforcement – which predated when Householder launched her campaign – no one helped.
‘It wasn’t until 2020 when we got the video footage of what actually happens [there] that we were taken seriously,’ Householder penned. ‘A former Agape student went and visited my parents and got video footage of how my dad actually acts and he sent me that.’
Householder claims she attempted to expose her parents alleged abuse for over a decade but was ignored by police and prosecutors. She’s pictured at the all-girls boarding school during her youth
Householder claims she attempted to expose her parents alleged abuse for over a decade but was ignored by police and prosecutors. She’s pictured at the all-girls boarding school during her youth
She posted the video to Facebook where it received 3,000 views. Householder was then advised to get a TikTok account, where her story eventually blew up.
‘I posted the video of my dad saying, “Knock her out.” That didn’t really get much traction,’ she said. ‘But the next day I went on and I did [a popular TikTok challenge]. And that’s when I got over a million views and 30,000 followers within a day. And then my followers just kept rising. People would ask me questions and I would just answer whatever questions they would ask.’
‘I honestly think it’s because a lot of TikTok is kids. I think a lot of kids were like, “Wait, this can happen? Like if I get sent away, this can happen?” A lot of them were kids saying, “This isn’t right, we have rights.” I think it honestly was a lot of kids realizing this could happen to [them], and they jumped in and started helping. And [when I say] they jumped in and started helping, I mean that they jumped in and started calling the prosecuting attorney and started asking him why he wasn’t doing anything to help Circle of Hope.’
Householder claims the authorities were receiving thousands of calls from TikTok users which, according to her, helped lead to her parents’ arrest.
In March 2021, Boyd and Stephanie were charged with 102 counts alleging they sexually, emotionally, or physically abused girls for years at Circle of Hope Girls Ranch in Cedar County, Missouri.
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