Counselor charged with child sexual abuse
Known victims were under his foster care
A Milwaukee man who for years worked in trauma care and counseling for children has been accused of sexually assaulting at least four boys continuously for years while they were in his custody as a foster parent or, later, their adoptive father.
When the boys, who were perhaps as young as 8 and as old as 17, would not comply with Cornelius R. Smith’s sexual demands, he would beat them with a footlong wooden stick, threaten to kick them out of the house or refused to buy them gifts, according to the criminal complaint filed in Milwaukee County Circuit Court.
The complaint accuses Smith of abusing the boys hundreds of times over a nine-year period. Police found surveillance cameras all over the interior of Smith’s northwest side home – including in bedrooms and bathrooms – and found footage of abuse, which continued into March of this year.
All four boys – who are identified only by their initials in the complaint – initially came to live with Smith through the foster care system. He later adopted at least three of them, the complaint said.
Milwaukee County Child Protective Services, which is run by the state Department of Children and Families and helps recruit, train and license foster families, declined to comment on the accusations against Smith, saying confidentiality requirements prevented it.
But the agency did say that Smith first became a licensed foster parent in 2005. He is currently licensed as a treatment foster parent, which means he is certified in caring for children with moderate to significant specialized needs, as a result of trauma with abuse, neglect or witnessing domestic violence; emotional and behavioral disorders; complex medical needs; or developmental and cognitive delays.
The four victims said they came under Smith’s care between 2013 and 2021. They said the abuse began soon after arriving and that Smith would given them melatonin and THC edibles on a regular basis.
Prosecutors charged Cornelius R. Smith with nine felonies: four counts of incest with a child; four counts of repeated sexual assault of the same child; and one count of sexual assault of a child by foster parent.
The oldest of them – now 24 years old – said he came to Smith as a 12-year-old after his parents died. The abuse he suffered made him suicidal.
The abuse may extend beyond those four victims as well. One of the victims told law enforcement of a time when they walked in on Smith abusing a fifth boy, who also lived at the home through the foster care system.
The complaint said police are aware of that child’s identity, but none of the charges filed as of Monday related to them.
According to his LinkedIn page, Smith has spent the last 12 years working in trauma and counseling field for children and families, including three years as the director of a foster care program for a former social services organization in Milwaukee.
For a year starting in mid-2021, he worked as a trauma specialist for Kids Matter Inc., which provides services for abused and neglected children in Milwaukee County.
In an interview with the news program “Our Issues Milwaukee” from that year, Smith said his job was to help families and children impacted by trauma through violence, “or even the foster care system.”
Susan Conwell, the executive director of Kids Matter Inc., said Monday she had no reason to suspect Smith of any criminal wrongdoing while acting as an employee. She said the organization prevents all its employees from being alone with children.
“Obviously, I’m devastated,” she said, in reaction to the charges.
An internal review at Kids Matter is also underway to address any potential impact on its clients, Conwell said in a statement.
Prosecutors charged Smith with nine felonies: four counts of incest with a child; four counts of repeated sexual assault of the same child; and one count of sexual assault of a child by foster parent. He is in Milwaukee County Jail with cash bail set at $1 million, according to online court records.