How Could You? Hall of Shame-8-year-old Boy

This will be an archive of heinous actions by those involved in child welfare, foster care and adoption. We forewarn you that these are deeply disturbing stories that may involve sex abuse, murder, kidnapping and other horrendous actions.

From Shelby, North Carolina, a “Cleveland County mother called WBTV after her eight-year-old son told her he had been sexually assaulted in a group home by another child. She called the TV station because, after the boy’s report, she heard nothing.

The boy was living at a group foster home in Shelby called Christine’s Home, one of two facilities operated by Laura’s Homes of North Carolina.

Christine’s Home falls into a category of youth care facility that is regulated by North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services’ Division of Social Services.

Records reviewed by WBTV show the eight-year-old boy reported being sexually assaulted on December 8, 2021.

His mother said it happened while she and her adult daughter were having a supervised visit with him.

“He disclosed that a boy was making him play games to prove he was not gay,” she recounted.

“And then we asked what kind of games? He just, you know, just dropped his head.”

The mother asked her son if he wanted to tell the social worker who was supervising the visit what happened. Her son said yes.

The social worker came back and told the worried mother that her son reported another boy sexually assaulting him. Three times—and an attempted fourth—in two weeks.

“I felt helpless. I felt that I could not be there for him like I wanted to be there for him,” she said. “My heart just dropped.”

A police report and hospital discharge paperwork provided by the mom shows the boy was taken to Levine Children’s Hospital, where he was eventually seen by an emergency room doctor who specializes in child abuse and neglect.

The diagnosis on the boy’s discharge paperwork is listed as “sexual assault of a child.”

Cleveland County Sheriff Alan Norman confirmed charges were filed against a juvenile as a result of the report. State law prohibits any other information about charges against minors from being made public.

But nobody told the boy’s mother about the charges until days after WBTV contacted Norman and a detective assigned to the case called the mom.

The boy is now living with his uncle—his mother’s brother—who has been approved by Cleveland County DSS to have custody of the boy.”

Her son said he was sexually assaulted in a group home. Then silence.
[WBTV 1/31/22 by Nick Ochsner]

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