How Could You? Hall of Shame- Antonio Hopkins and Trulon Henry

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 Chicago, Illinois, a “former standout college football star with a criminal history [Antonio Hopkins]was charged with sexually abusing a foster child in the care of a Chicago facility.

The center, Aunt Martha’s, was already in the middle of an investigation after multiple other workers there were accused of abuse.

Trulon Henry, a manager at Aunt Martha’s, was arrested and charged last week with sexually abusing a young girl in the care of the facility’s integrated care center. He was a supervisor in charge of taking care of some of the state’s most vulnerable foster children.

The arrest came soon after Antonio Hopkins, who worked for Aunt Martha’s through a third-party security firm, was also arrested and charged with abuse of a child.

The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services started investigating the case last August, but didn’t stop sending kids there until May.

In addition to the two arrests, CBS News Chicago learned another supervisor was being investigated. There were also about 170 other pending investigations involving Aunt Martha’s Integrated Care Center (ICC).

“It’s incredibly high,” said Alpa Jayanti Patel, chief deputy public guardian for the Office of the Cook County Public Guardian.

Patel said the judges who handle placements weren’t made aware of the accusations until several months later and continued placing children at Aunt Martha’s as a result.

“Nobody knew about it,” Patel said. “Nobody was informed about it, the courts were certainly not informed about it, and that to me doesn’t pass the smell test at all.”

The lack of knowledge left children vulnerable.

“These children again, were basically proven right by believing that no adult was out there looking after them, and that they were pretty much fair game to anybody to victimize them,” Patel said.

Henry was a standout linebacker at the University of Illinois, graduating in 2011. His real-life redemption story of being convicted of armed robbery when he was 19 was a fact highlighted in several news reports and in a Big Ten Network feature story in 2010.

CBS News Chicago asked Aunt Martha’s and DCFS how Henry was able to work with foster children given his previous criminal conviction and why courts weren’t notified of abuse allegations earlier.

DCFS didn’t answer those questions but confirmed that all kids had been removed from Aunt Martha’s as of June 30.

“Everyone let them down,” Patel said. “That’s the reality of the situation.”

DCFS said it put in place 24/7 monitoring at the facility, which continued until all the kids in care were moved out.”

Another worker at Chicago center accused of abusing foster children in his care
[CBS 2 7/2/24 by Megan Hickey, Michele Youngerman]

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