Southern Baptists of Texas Convention Sued Over Alleged Abuse of Foster Children at Affiliated Children’s Home

Two Southern Baptist state conventions in about a month have been sued over alleged child abuse at affiliated ministries. A lawsuit filed April 5 in Tarrant County, Texas, seeks to hold the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention liable for alleged physical and/or sexual abuse and neglect of seven children placed by the state in foster care at Texas Baptist Home for Children.

The children’s home is based in Waxahachie, Texas, and was founded in 1908 by the Baptist Missionary Association of Texas, a group formed after a split within the Baptist General Convention of Texas in the 1890s. The Southern Baptists of Texas Convention was formed in 1998 by churches impatient with the BGCT’s resistance to a rightward shift in leadership of the Southern Baptist Convention. It supports the children’s home and Jacksonville College, a two-year school owned by the Baptist Missionary Association of Texas, as “affiliated ministries.”

The lawsuit, filed on behalf of five boys and two girls identified by pseudonyms, claims that abusive foster parents at the children’s home acted as agents of both sponsoring bodies. It seeks $1 million per child in monetary damages for agency, negligence, premises liability and other failures that allegedly contributed to serial abuse by four foster-parent couples living in cottages on the campus between March 26, 2013, and Dec. 18, 2013. The suit’s focus on children who depended on others for their protection reflects a call to speak up for those who cannot defend themselves (Proverbs 31:8-9).

In a statement distributed through Baptist Press, the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention said its leaders are aware of the lawsuit and are praying “for a resolution that facilitates the continued ministry of the Texas Baptist Home for Children as they meet the needs of at-risk children and families.”

A separate lawsuit in Oklahoma involves the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma (BGCO). That suit, filed March 8, holds First Baptist Church in Terrell, Texas, another Baptist church and the BGCO responsible for the reported rape of a 13-year-old girl last summer at the BGCO-owned Falls Creek Conference Center. First Baptist Church in Terrell filed its legal response April 11.

According to the lawsuit, the girl was part of a youth group from Terrell invited to share a cabin with Country Estates Baptist Church of Midwest City, Okla., for a weeklong church camp last June. There she met 35-year-old Benjamin Petty, an adult volunteer whom Country Estates Baptist Church had brought along as a cook. The lawsuit alleges that during the week Petty forcibly raped the teenager after days of grooming and manipulation that went unnoticed or were ignored by camp counselors.

First Baptist Church in Terrell denied any “agency relationship” with the BGCO that would make the congregation liable under the legal doctrine of respondeat superior. Latin for “let the master answer,” respondeat superior is a form of vicarious liability that holds an employer responsible for negligent actions or omissions by an employee while performing the duties of his or her job. The church also claimed that any lingering damages the girl may have suffered were caused by her own negligence or that of others not under the congregation’s control.

The BGCO has not yet filed its formal response to the lawsuit. A convention spokesman has said Baptist officials found the allegations “deeply disturbing” and were “looking into them,” while stating that Falls Creek “is not responsible for the alleged behavior.”

Source: Read the original report