Texas Baptist Home Failed to Protect Foster Kids from Sexual Abuse

Texas Baptist Home for Children says it has a mission to protect abused and neglected children. Tell that to Bryan and Austin Cook of Cleburne. They say they were molested by the same 13-year-old boy in one of the Waxahachie foster homes run by the Baptist agency. They say their cries for help were repeatedly ignored and discounted. "We told our caseworkers about it," said Austin, now 13. "We tried to tell Texas Baptist Home manager people, and they wouldn't listen to us." A News 8 investigation has uncovered troubling new information appearing to back up their claims. For more than a year, their mother, Angel Cook, has repeatedly claimed Austin, Bryan, and her oldest son, Justin, were sexually abused by other foster children while in foster care at Texas Baptist Home for Children. An Ellis County grand jury will soon hear a case against the teenager accused of sexually assaulting Justin in another of Texas Baptist's foster homes in Waxahachie. "Nobody listened, and two girls are now rape victims," Angel Cook said. "They will forever have to live with this. You can never erase sexual assault."