Foster Child Sexually Abused in Foster Home

JACKSONVILLE, FL -- Behind the walls of a home on the Southside of Jacksonville was an attack so brutal it has changed a little boy's life forever.

We'll call the ten year old Chris. Once an A/B student, Chris is now failing.

Once a happy child, "He duct taped on the wall 'I hate everyone' the other day." Because of what happened to her son, we are not identifying her or her child. She asked us to call her Anne.

Anne says back in March, the Department of Children and Families took Chris away from her. There was a report of abuse. Days later, that report of abuse was proven to be false. The person who made the false allegation went to jail.

Meanwhile, Chris stayed in foster care until the false report mess was cleared up in the court system. The DCF says it returned Chris to his mother one week after police made an arrest in the case.

Anne says she remember clearly that first phone call from her son in his foster home. "He called me and I knew something was wrong. I thought it was because he was taken."

It would take Anne months to piece together the puzzle of what was wrong with her son. "It was like an alien. He was angry, mad like he hated the whole world. So, I took him to the doctor."

Anne showed us records of doctor's reports and medicine her son has been prescribed to help him.

But it wasn't until one day on the way to summer camp, her son finally opened up about what happened in that home on the Southside of Jacksonville.

"They (DCF) took him from me, where he was safe and put him in a home where he was raped by two boys." Anne called the police and the DCF abuse hotline.

"Four days later an arrest was made of two boys, one 14 and one 17," says Anne. Two sons who belong to Leticia Rodriguez, who was Chris' foster mother.

"I don't know what happened. I can't say one thing or the other," Rodriguez told First Coast News.

Rodriguez says Chris had his own room and she did not sense anything wrong while he was here.

Court records show Rodriguez's 14 and 17 year old boys were arrested and charged in August with ten counts of sexual battery.

Just two weeks ago, on October 29th, the 17 year old pleaded guilty to all ten counts. The teen was sentenced to a high-risk residential facility. He will be in the juvenile justice system for the next six to twelve months.

Rodriguez says she doesn't believe her sons did this. As for why her 17 year old pleaded guilty, "Because been detained for three and a half months and to get it over with."

Rodriguez's other son, her 14 year old, goes to court next week on his charges. "I prefer him to go and plead guilty and go to juvenile and not having to go get direct certified as an adult and having to do a few years," says Rodriguez.

Anne says she just wants justice served and for the two teens to get some help. "It destroyed my son. It destroyed me, as a wife and mother, destroyed this family because not the same family," she said while crying.

Anne says the abuse should never have happened. We've learned a similar allegation was made to DCF about sexual abuse in the foster home nearly nine months before Chris was placed here. This time, it was a little girl.

"I know the 8 year old has a past history of saying stuff and that's why she's back into the system," says Rodriguez.

"The abuse of children in foster care is intolerable," says DCF spokesman John Harrell.

Harrell says, because of state law, he can't talk about the girl's complaint. He can only say allegations are taken seriously and are always investigated. "We're going to investigate thoroughly. If have findings that abuse took place we're not going to continue to place foster kids in that home."

Harrell did confirm that Rodriguez's foster license is being revoked and that children have not been in her home since Chris came forward. "As soon as we found out abuse happened, we immediately removed children from the home," says Harrell.

DCF tells us they are now reviewing the Rodriguez file to see if anything could have been handled differently.

"How could this happen, how could you let this happen? You talk about protecting children, where was protection for my child," Anne asks.

Anne has alerted the state of Florida that she is suing. As for her and her son, they are both in therapy and learning how to cope.

"I don't know what to do for my son, what do you do for him?"

Chris says he didn't tell anyone about this right away because he was afraid. In fact, in the police report, Chris said the boys told him if he said anything he would never see his mom again and that he would be placed in a group home.

Anne now is not only trying to help her son cope but she is also trying to keep her son's attacker behind bars.

Just five days ago, Anne received a letter in the mail. The letter alerts Anne that her son's attacker is about to be released just one week after he was sentenced.

"I about hit the ground, what kind of justice is that?" asks Anne. We'll have the answer for you Thursday night on First Coast News at Six.

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