How Could You? Hall of Shame- Alan Fox
This will be an archive of heinous actions by those involved in child welfare, foster care and adoption. We forewarn you that these are deeply disturbing stories that may involve sex abuse, murder, kidnapping and other horrendous actions.
From Dansville, New York, foster father Pastor Alan Fox “has admitted to touching the private parts of his five year old foster daughter, then forcing her to do the same to him. “Guilty” said Alan Fox, 60, when asked to answer to the charge of Attempted Sexual Abuse in the First Degree. Prosecutors say the incident occurred in the back yard of his Sparta home.
“They were out for the weekend looking at the stars,” said Assistant District Attorney Justin Hill. Hill says the incident was reported within 24 hours. A second foster child, the brother of the victim, was removed from the foster home. During the investigation, Livingston County Sheriff’s deputies contacted every foster child who had ever been in the home to make sure there were not additional victims. Outside court, Fox did not answer questions. His attorney ducked into the Livingston County Jail to avoid reporters.
Fox was allowed to plea to a lesser charge to avoid a trial for the victim – who is now six. Hill says the young victim will not talk about the incident – even in private one-on-one meetings. “This was not done for him; it was done for the victim,” says Hill. Fox will go to state prison for 1 1/2 years and be registered as a sex offender. He is scheduled to be sentenced on January 29, 2015. Fox, who tried to duck out a back door following court, is a Methodist pastor and member of a Christian folk group “Band of Brothers.” Prosecutors say he and his wife Cathy have been fostering children for 30 years.”
Dansville Pastor admits to abusing 5 year old foster daughter [Wham 11/26/14 by Jane Flasch]
“A family says their reports of child abuse at the hands of a Dansville minister were ignored. Pastor Alan Fox will be sentenced Thursday after admitting to sexual contact with a 5-year-old child placed in his foster care. “This is probably one of the biggest mistakes they’ve ever made at the cost of a child,” said the girl’s biological father who spoke with 13WHAM News. We are identifying him only as James to protect the identity of his children.
James says his child’s welfare continues to be in danger – even after she was moved to a new foster home. He says the girl has been placed in a home without a mother and where one of the two fathers has the name Alan. That’s the same name of her abuser and the name she called him while living there.
“They call them their hand-picked homes. These are their best homes,” said James, who explains why he believes the foster care system has failed his daughter over and over. The first time came last spring when she became tearful during visitation.
“She said he made me sit on his lap and he touched me and immediately I got on the phone with the worker,” James said. “Her response to me? I can assure you it was an innocent thing. This is the best home that we have.” By the time Alan Fox admitted to the sexual contact, there was at least one more incident where he also forced the child to touch him. “They were warned. It was ignored and then this happened,” said James. “This could have been avoided.”
“He is a pastor, he is big in the community. He was considered their best foster home,” said Stacy Youst-Stillen. She has taken in foster children herself and is now advocating for the biological family of the victim. Youst-Stillen says the children had been raised by an aunt before being forced into foster care.
“These children are at higher risk of being abused in the system. Why are they all in there? Do they have to be in there?” she said. “Why can’t we support our families more?” James lost his children after becoming addicted to pain medication prescribed for his injuries after a roofing accident. He’s been clean for two and a half years and is fighting for custody. He is pushing even harder after learning of his daughter’s new foster placement.
“My daughter was molested and she’s very confused,” said James. “They’re taking care of children that are already damaged and this should not be happening.” Calls and e-mails left for Livingston County’s Social Services Commissioner on Tuesday and Wednesday were not returned. Reverend Fox was offered a plea deal to prevent the girl – now 6 – from having to testify and relive the incident. He is expected to serve one and a third years in state prison. ”
Family: 5 year old abused by foster father still in Danger[Wham 1/29/14 by Jane Flasch]
“The sentencing date for the man who sexually abused a five year old foster daughter has been postponed for a day on a legal technicality.
Pastor Alan Fox, 60, was scheduled for sentencing in the Livingston County Courthouse at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, and after more than an hour and a half of conferences with lawyers on their cases, including Fox’s lawyer John Putney, county judge Dennis Cohen ruled in favor of Putney’s request that sentencing be adjourned, since he did not receive the pre-sentence report 24 hours before sentencing, which is his right as an attorney.
“It seems like it’s always been this way with Mr. Fox,” said James, 41, the biological father of the victim, who is now seeking custody of her and her four brothers and sisters. “It seems that every time they get close to handling this, it gets postponed, and postponed, and postponed.”
Fox has been a foster parent for 30 years alongside his wife, Cathy, who was present during private conferencing with the judge but left the courthouse grounds before formal hearings began. He is a former pastor out of Dansville and former singer/songwriter for the Christian folk band, Band of Brothers.
Fox pled guilty to Attempted Criminal Sex Act in the First Degree, an E felony, in November and was scheduled for sentencing Thursday, Jan. 29, but turned himself in to the Livingston County Sheriff’s Office on Jan. 5. Sources speculate he may have done so to start his incarceration time early in local jail, and minimize his time in prison.
Fox will be returning to court Friday morning to receive a sentence that is anticipated to include 1 1/2 years in prison.”
Pastor Fox Sentencing Postponed by 24 Hours[Genessee Sun 1/29/15 by Conrad Baker]
REFORM Puzzle Piece
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WHY is the bar for biological parents to regain custody set so high? And why were the kids taken from their aunt’s custody for their FATHER’s accidental addiction in the first place?
STUCKees wail about having their “Gotcha Days” delayed for years, but where is the similar outrage about loving parents waiting through multiple court dates (while trying to prove that they’ve complied with ever-changing CPS requirements) before being reunited with THEIR OWN children?
Yes, sometimes biological parents SHOULD be kept from their kids. But we’re seeing a flood of children being taken for being “at risk of” abuse and/or neglect which HASN’T occurred and might never have occurred if they’d been left in their original home. Why don’t we provide services to “at risk” parents instead of yanking their kids away– and hire plenty of social workers to follow up to make sure things remain okay? Social workers who take the traditional “helping” attitude toward the clientele they serve, rather than the coldly judgmental you’re-scum-and-I’ll-yank-your-kids-in-a-heartbeat-if-you-backtalk-ME attitude, that is.
We need to acknowledge that given the DOCUMENTED long term effects of broken family bonds, giving parents the services they need to be good parents is not only more humane than BabyScooping their kids for suboptimal parenting, it saves megabucks in the long term.