Listen up parents:
Kanoy [prosecuting attorney] said he hasn?t filed charges against anybody at Thayer because some allegations don?t rise to abuse, some can?t be proved and others simply aren?t credible. And investigations at Thayer are difficult, he said, because under state law, private facilities that provide care ?in conjunction with an educational program? are exempt from state licensing and regulation.
?We can?t get in the front door,? Kanoy said.
The Department of Social Services, however, cannot make unannounced visits to private facilities or remove children without a court order. And the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has no oversight over private schools.
State social-service workers don?t have the authority to speak to students on demand, and they can?t shut down an unlicensed facility.
Officials with the Division of Children?s Services investigate allegations of child abuse and neglect with law-enforcement agencies and officers of the juvenile court. But even sheriff?s deputies have been turned away at Thayer, Caldwell County Sheriff Kirby Brelsford said.
Kanoy said, ?There has to be a search warrant to get in the front door, or consent.? He?s been inside Thayer on one occasion, he said, but ?consent has never been given? pursuant to any investigations. He said state officials ?kind of get stonewalled? at Thayer, and that he?s never had sufficient evidence to pursue a search warrant.
In a statement submitted to The Star in December 2004, Thayer officials said, ?No state agency or law enforcement agency has substantiated any improper activity at Thayer. These agencies have scrutinized Thayer frequently over the past 2½ years and found any and all allegations unsubstantiated or unfounded.?
Brelsford said that, most of the time, Thayer officials eventually let officers see the students in question. But it?s often several hours later, and sometimes he?s been told that the students are no longer at Thayer.
He?d like to see legislation enacted that would force schools such as Thayer to be licensed and regulated by the state.
?I?d love to be able to go to that door and walk in whenever I need to,? Brelsford said.
But Missouri is hardly alone with its lax licensing requirements.
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Fuller asked Kanoy to subpoena medical records that might substantiate the allegations. In a report he submitted to Kanoy, later included in the Reyes lawsuit, Fuller wrote, ?I have a reasonable belief ? the crime of abuse of a child has been committed at Thayer Learning Center.?
Kanoy said he subpoenaed records of Thayer students from Renee Claycamp, a Hamilton, Mo., physician. It?s in connection with those allegations that Kanoy, 31, the sole prosecutor in his office, asked for assistance from the state attorney general.
?We?ll work with the prosecutor in determining whether there?s sufficient evidence to file charges,? said Scott Holste, a spokesman for Attorney General Jay Nixon. ?But that decision will rest with Mr. Kanoy, ultimately.?
Kanoy said his office takes abuse allegations at Thayer seriously. But some allegations don?t name the victims or are second- or third-hand reports. He?s not sure others constitute criminal behavior. One report, for example, says a girl was forced to sit in a plastic tub of urine for at least 2½ hours.
?That?s disturbing,? Kanoy said.
But is it child abuse?
?I don?t know,? he said.
IS HE THE RIGHT PERSON FOR THE JOB?? If for no other reason, this is why warehouses should be licensed.
