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Houston dad adopts 9, still wants more

When you’re a single dad raising nine boys between the ages of eight and 18, everybody at Walmart knows the family by name.
Credit: KHOU

HOUSTON — Editor's note: In October of 2019, after this story aired, Cohen was charged with indecency of a child involving a 16-year-old foreign exchange student. He was released on a $75,000 bond. 

In 2023, Cohen was charged with multiple counts of sexual abuse involving one of his sons. The boy, now 17, told investigators Cohen adopted him when he was 11 and began sexually assaulting him three weeks later. The teen said Cohen also abused his younger brothers but he threatened or bribed them so they wouldn't talk.

We removed the names of the children, along with the video and photos, to protect their identity.

Original report from June 2019

When you’re a single dad raising nine boys between the ages of eight and 18, everybody at Walmart knows the family by name.

“We spend four-thousand (dollars) a month on food,” Hayim Cohen, the boys’ father, said.

He makes money from real estate he owns and started fostering children because of his faith.  Cohen considers making life better for orphans or kids neglected an obligation.

During orientation to become a foster parent, Cohen learned that Texas Child Protective Services see 29,000 children a year.  So, Cohen adopted over and over.  He said it is hard to stop.

“I wish I could say it was just one, it was just two, but all nine of them,” he said.

Cohen adopted three sibling groups, the kids most likely to spent their entire childhoods in state custody and never find forever homes.

Two brothers said they were scared they would be separated.

“It sends shivers through your body,” one boy said. “It’s a fear you’ll never understand unless you’re a sibling group about to be split up.  To be here together was something we hoped for but never set in stone that it was going to happen.”

“It made me one of the happiest kids alive,” his brother said.

Last year, the boys attempted to show their gratitude with a Father’s Day tribute video and a giant card written to “the best dad in the world.”

Months later, the boys blew their dad’s mind. They convinced a store to donate hundreds of uniforms to kids in foster care.

“I know what it’s like to be the kid wanting a uniform, a new uniform,” one son explained. 

“The way that you kill darkness is with light,” Hayim Cohen said.  “Every act of kindness that we do brings light and it inspires others to do an act of kindness.”

Now, Hayim is thinking about adding to his family.  He hopes marriage is next but Cohen is certain he will adopt again.

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