RICHMOND — Child Protective Services twice visited the home of two young brothers who were later found to be in an emaciated state but took no action to remove them, state agency officials acknowledged Friday.

"What we see in hindsight is that there are some things we should have done. The boys denied all the allegations during both investigations and so based on that, we ruled them (allegations) out. We didn't take any action," CPS spokeswoman Gwen Carter said in a telephone interview.

The revelation about the previous CPS visits came during testimony in the trial of Barbara Dean Baldwin, 50, the great-aunt of the boys, and her husband, Tommie Lee Baldwin, 46.

The Baldwins were the legal guardians of the brothers and are accused of injury to a child by omission. Fort Bend County prosecutors said the couple kept the children on a starvation diet and made them sleep in a sweltering garage where they had only a bucket for a bathroom. The boys were ages 9 and 10 when they were removed from the house in August 2002.

The brothers told the court they survived by eating garbage and dog food and were sometimes punished by being made to kneel on concrete with their hands above their heads.

Agency received tip

CPS supervisor Karen Sheehan testified CPS received a tip in October 2000 that the boys were not being fed properly and another report in September 2001 that they did not appear healthy.

Sheehan said a CPS caseworker cautioned the Baldwins about the care they were giving the boys and the case was closed. Prosecutor Lorretta Owen asked if in Sheehan's opinion that was the best possible way the visits could have been handled.

"In my opinion they were not," Sheehan said.

Later in the interview, Carter said the agency could have done more to check out the allegations such as conducting follow-up visits or taking the children to a doctor.

Carter said the caseworker visited the house and reported one of the boys looked thin but the brothers said they had been eating.

During one of the CPS visits, the boys were eating sausage, and cookies were on the table.

Carter said the caseworker reported from the second visit that the younger boy appeared to have gained weight and had grown and the older boy said they had been eating.

The caseworker, who made both visits, was not disciplined by CPS and left in 2004.

The boys were removed from the home when CPS got another tip and a caseworker told the couple to bring the boys to the CPS office.

When the brothers arrived, CPS officials took them to a hospital where nurses broke down in tears when they saw their emaciated bodies.

Tommie Lee Baldwin took the stand and said the brothers ate good food and often "ate like horses."

Baldwin could not say why the boys lost weight and didn't grow while they lived under his roof, except to say they often had diarrhea.

"How can you explain that the older boy lost weight," prosecutor Sherry Robinson asked.

"I can't explain it," Baldwin said.

"How can you explain him not growing?"

"I can't explain it."

The couple had custody of the brothers because their mother was in prison.

When CPS officials took the boys to the hospital, the older boy weighed 56 pounds, a pound less than when he arrived at the Baldwin home three years earlier.

The younger boy weighed 59 pounds, about a half-pound more than in 1999.

'Punishment food'

Baldwin was one of several witnesses called by defense lawyer Gordon E. White in the courtroom of state District Judge Thomas R. Culver.

Baldwin said the boys were fed like other family members but would receive "punishment food" when they misbehaved.

Earlier testimony described punishment food as sauerkraut and canned vegetables.

The defense also presented a psychologist, Dr. Joseph Peraino, who described how both boys had psychological problems prior to arriving at the Baldwin home.

He also said psychological problems can cause physical problems.

White asked if there were medical conditions in which people stop eating.

Peraino described anorexia nervosa, an illness in which people eat little or nothing and which usually occurs in young women.

The prosecutor asked Peraino how likely it would be for a pre-adolescent boy to have anorexia nervosa.

"Not likely," he said.

The charges against the Baldwins are first-degree felonies and carry a maximum penalty of 99 years in prison.

Testimony resumes Monday.

eric.hanson@chron.com