Woman whose parents ran 'house of horrors' reform school where kids were tortured and sexually abused under the guise of 'discipline' lays bare heinous 'punishments' they faced - from starvation to forced INCEST

A woman whose parents ran the 'house of horrors' boarding school has laid bare the shocking abuse that she was subjected to throughout her childhood.

She has revealed how students were forced to torture one another as part of the sick 'punishments' and how her dad would make her kiss her brother if she misbehaved.

Back in 2021, Boyd and Stephanie Householder - the owners of a former Christian reform school for girls in southwest Missouri called Circle of Hope - were charged with more than 100 counts of sexual, emotional and physical abuse of the students.

Now, the couple's daughter, Amanda Householder, 33, has spoken in detail about the horrific pain that she - and the other students - endured at the hands of her 'sadistic' parents.

A woman whose parents ran the 'house of horrors' boarding school has laid bare the shocking abuse that she was subjected to throughout her childhood

Back in 2021, Boyd and Stephanie Householder - the owners of a former Christian reform school for girls called Circle of Hope - were charged with more than 100 counts of abuse

Now, the couple's daughter, Amanda Householder, 33, has spoken about the horrific pain that she - and the other students - endured at the hands of her 'sadistic' parents. The school is seen 

She revealed how students were forced to torture one another and how her dad would make her kiss her brother if she misbehaved. She's seen as a kid with her parents and brother

She opened up about the disturbing punishments that were used on them while attending the school - which including exercising until they were sick to their stomachs and being restrained for hours on end - as well as the harrowing trauma that she was put through even long before the school was opened.

While chatting with Shelise Ann Sola's for her podcast, Cults To Consciousness, Amanda explained that her parents were members of the Independent Fundamental Baptist Church when she was born - a conservative Christian sect that follows a strict set of rules regarding everything from what its members could wear to how they should act.

'Women can't wear pants, I had to wear skirts down to the ankle,' she recalled. 'I also had to wear long sleeves. 

'You couldn't show collarbone or pretty much any skin. That was how women had to dress.'

She said the church believed that 'the man' was 'the head of the household,' which meant that 'whatever he said goes.' 

'Women had to be submissive,' she continued. 'Your dad was directly under God so anything he said you had to do.'

She said she was 'beaten' by her father from as long as she could remember - and tiny things would set him off. 

'In my household, all I knew was abuse. It started off with belts and then it went to horse riding crops, and then it went to anything my dad could get his hands on,' she shared. 

'My mom would give me and my brother permission to watch TV but if my dad came home and saw us watching it and he didn't approve of it we would get beaten. 

While chatting with Shelise Ann Sola's for her podcast, Cults To Consciousness, Amanda explained that her parents were members of the Independent Fundamental Baptist Church

Amanda (seen as a teen) said the church believed that 'the man' was 'the head of the household,' which meant that 'whatever he said goes'

She said she was 'beaten' from as long as she could remember, and that her dad would even force her to eat spoonfuls of hot sauce or baking soda, or get intimate with her own brother

'It was really ridiculous little things like that. It wasn't discipline, it was straight up hatred.'

She recalled one time when she was only a toddler that she was 'beaten to the point where she couldn't sit down' because she 'didn't eat her meal.' 

Amanda said the incident lead to her grandmother calling CPS, but when the police asked her to lift her skirt so they could see her 'bruises,' she explained that she was 'already so brainwashed' that she told them she had misbehaved and deserved it so they left.

But the 'punishments' went beyond just 'beatings,' as her dad started taking more extreme measures as she got older - like forcing her to eat spoonfuls of hot sauce or baking soda, or get intimate with her own brother.

'Punishments were really off the wall in our household,' she continued. 'As we got older, me and my brother would bicker and fight and so my dad would make us hold hands or sleep together or hug and kiss for hours in front of him. 

'His favorite one was [making us eat] hot sauce and baking soda, like spoonfuls of baking soda.'

She believed the abuse stemmed from the teachings of the church, which she said was more like a 'cult' than a religion.

'The pastor would preach, "Better a pink bottom than a black heart." Basically if you don't beat your kid, they'll become evil,' she added. 

At age four, her parents started working at an IFB boarding school in Florida, where she resided and studied.

She wasn't given a formal education there or taught things like math or science, but instead, she said school was focused on teaching girls 'how to be a good wife.' 

'You were taught how to have sex with your husband, how to cook, how to clean, and how to keep your husband pleased,' she shared.

'It taught you that if your husband wants it this way, you give it to him this way. It doesn't matter if you're sick, it doesn't matter if you don't want to. It doesn't matter what you want - it only matters what he wants.' 

At age 10, her family moved to Missouri after her parents landed a job at a Christian reform school called Agape (seen) - and things got even worse after they made the switch 

She said the rules at the institution (seen) were even 'more strict' and now, instead of just being abused inside her 'torturous' home, it was happening at school by her instructors too

She recalled being forced to do 'pushups and jumping jacks' until she was so exhausted that she threw up, adding, 'It was basically military boot camp'

At age 10, her family moved to Missouri after her parents landed a job at a Christian reform school called Agape - and things got even worse after they made the switch. 

She said the rules at the institution were even 'more strict' and now, instead of just being abused inside her 'torturous' home, it was happening at school by her instructors too.

She said they also would 'restrain' kids if they misbehaved, sometimes holding them down on the ground while 'pushing all their weight on their pressure point for hours.' She's seen as a teen 

She recalled being forced to do 'pushups and jumping jacks' until she was so exhausted that she threw up. 

'It was basically military boot camp, that was a form of punishment they regularly used,' she said.

'It was an excessive amount of pushups. It would be thousands sometimes. Kids would be pushing and their arms would be like rubber, kids would be throwing up. But they had no choice, they had to continue.' 

She said they also would 'restrain' kids if they misbehaved, sometimes holding them down on the ground while 'pushing all their weight on their pressure point for hours.' 

Some students were also 'punched, beaten, and thrown around' by the instructors.

When asked what warranted the punishments, she explained that simple things like 'not smiling' or 'not speaking loud enough' would lead to them getting in trouble.

In 2006, her parents left Agape to open the Circle of Hope Ranch in Cedar County, Missouri.

'I think my dad opened the all girls school for his own sadistic pleasure,' Amanda admitted. 

In 2006, her parents left Agape to open Circle of Hope Ranch in Cedar County, Missouri. She's seen at age 15 at Circle of Hope 

In 2008, when Amanda was 17, she was kicked out of the school and her home because her parents found out that she had encouraged another girl to wear pants. She's seen as a teen

'I don't think it was because he wanted to help people. My whole childhood my dad was inappropriate to a lot of young girls.'

She remembered her dad often having young girls in his office, who would 'massage his head and neck,' and she added, 'He definitely opened the school because he's a sick, sick person.'

At the school, Amanda said her dad would use the horrific punishments that he had learned about from Agape on students.

She also said he 'pit' them against each other, forcing them to help hurt their peers if they misbehaved by holding them down during restraints.

'We would be told if we didn't do it hard enough that we would be next so we would be sitting there for hours pushing as hard as we can,' she explained. 'It was dominated by fear. We were scared.

'If my dad would need a break my mom would switch with him and they would kiss and smile at each other almost like they enjoyed it.'

In 2008, when Amanda was 17, she was kicked out of the school and her home because her parents found out that she had encouraged another girl to wear pants. 

And while being forced into the real world all alone after spending her whole life in the 'cult' was extremely difficult, she said it 'was the best thing that ever happened to her.'

She spent years being homeless and 'did a lot of heavy drugs' before ending up in an extremely 'toxic' relationship with a man whose identity was not shared.

They welcomed two kids together, but she said he treated her like his 'slave.'

'After I got out of the cult I disassociated and blocked a lot of it out. I did a lot of things that that I'm not proud of to this day,' she continued. 

'A lot of it was me disassociating from reality. I left one crappy situation and got into another crappy situation.

'It felt like I was literally back in Circle of Hope. He reminded me of my dad. Everything had to be his way. I literally was just a slave and a babysitter.' 

She spent years being homeless and 'did a lot of heavy drugs' before ending up in an extremely 'toxic' relationship with a man whose identity was not shared

As for what pushed her to finally break free, she said it came down to her wanting a better life for her two sons

In 2020, she began sharing her story on TikTok, where her videos quickly went viral. Her parents were arrested in 2021 , and are currently on house arrest as they wait for their trial

She was with him for more than a decade - until 2022, when she finally found the strength to leave him.

When asked why she stayed with him for so long, Amanda explained, 'A lot of it was because I didn't have anyone, I didn't have family to fall back on.' 

As for what pushed her to finally break free, she said it came down to her wanting a better life for her two sons. 

'I didn't want my kids to think that's love because it's not. I wanted my kids to truly experience what I never got to experience,' she shared. 

'It's hard when you leave an environment where all you know is control or people telling you what to do and then move into another environment like that. You're used to it, like, it just makes sense. It was really hard.'

Amanda has now turned her life around, and she works in 'apartment management.'

She is also extremely open about what she went through. In 2020, she began sharing her story on TikTok, where her videos quickly went viral.

Her outspokenness prompted other girls who had attended Circle of Hope to come forward, eventually leading to the school shutting down and her parents' arrests. Agape has also since been shut down.

'I thought, "As much as it's going to suck because it's my family, I can't just sit back and know that it's still happening,"' Amanda recalled of her decision to speak out on TikTok.

'It took me really long to realize that the way I was taught is not how it should be.

'I'm still in the very new baby phases of my healing journey and coming to terms with everything.'

Her parents were arrested in March 2021, and are currently on house arrest as they wait for their trial, which has been delayed numerous times and currently doesn't have a start date.

'I feel like the prosecuting attorney is trying everything he can to keep pushing it back so maybe people will forget about it and nothing will be done,' Amanda said. 'But I won't forget and the girls from Circle of Hope won't forget.'

Amanda, who has more than 233,000 followers on TikTok, is now in a new relationship with a man who she said she bonded with over their mutual love of 'activism.'

Her story was told in HBO's 2023 documentary Let Us Prey: A Ministry Of Scandals.