child abuse

For many years, Peter Newman served Branson's Kanakuk Christian sports camp as a counselor and later director. In 2010, he was sentenced to two life sentences — plus 30 years — for sexually abusing boys at the camp.

As KSMU reported previously, HB 709 was prompted by abuse scandal linked to Kanakuk sports camp in the Branson area. The bill would essentially ban nondisclosure agreements as a tool to resolve civil lawsuits over child sexual abuse.

People who say they survived sex abuse at Kanakuk camp near Branson spoke out at a hearing in Jefferson City last week. A bill proposed by an Ozarks lawmaker would restrict nondisclosure agreements signed to settle court cases between sexual abuse survivors and perpetrators.

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.

Peter Newman will continue to serve two life sentences, plus 30 years, at the Jefferson City Correctional Center.

For the second time since May, a small group of Missouri sexual abuse survivors gathered at the federal courthouse in downtown Springfield to denounce boarding school abuse in rural areas. A note for our listeners and readers: This report contains frank discussion of severe abuse allegations.

Branson’s Kanakuk sports camp is facing another civil lawsuit, this time from a plaintiff who alleges he was sexually abused when he attended Kanakuk as a kid — and says the camp committed fraud by concealing the actions of a predatory counselor.

Boyd Householder died Tuesday, according to reporting by the Kansas City Star citing multiple sources.

In recent days, a Christian boarding school for boys based in southwest Missouri became the target of a new lawsuit with severe child abuse allegations. Defendants include the local county sheriff.

In Springfield on Tuesday, three women who say they survived severe child abuse at religious boarding schools in Missouri staged a small demonstration. Along with an advocate with Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, they hope to raise awareness about boarding school abuse in the Ozarks and around the state.