7th Heaven star Stephen Collins on tape admitting molestation of girls

[Doghairrules]

This one?

The Babysitter's Seduction: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112437/

Yep, that's the one. Double ugh!

 

[iluvmua]

SC's career as he knows it is in the gutter (as it should be). I do think he should have to register as a child molester. I listened to the tape and he seems to show no remorse what so ever.

from the tone of his voice it sounds like he could not care less about what he did.

And I highly doubt the only thing he did was put the victim's hand over his private area. JMO

 

[SophieRose]

Certainly something to think about, although I believe more than one child was involved, so to me that makes him a repeat offender, and what are the chances of “exposing himself and putting a child's hand on his penis” being the only thing that happened, after all these are his words. I’ll change my opinion to he should receive a harsher punishment, but like I said earlier I do not believe anything will be done to him. He’ll make a plea deal and walk free to destroy more innocent children. OR maybe he will commit suicide

I thought I heard that since it was over 40 years ago, even if the victims were found, the cases could not be proscecuted.

 

[Cyan]

I think it depends on what state or states this all happened in? Some states have no SOL for it, while others seem to have SOL in place for only particular acts or to prevent people from seeking monetary damages after a certain amount of time has passed.

 

[iluvmua]

One case happened in NY so the SOL have run out.

 

[Still_Snarky]

Turn it around for a moment: suppose you were in therapy. Would you want your counselor to discuss your victimization and the ensuing trauma with your friends and family members, your pastor, your employer and perhaps even your abuser himself? I'm sure you wouldn't and I wouldn't blame you.

The therapist-patient confidentiality rule is there to protect patients of all stripes.

Now I think most states allow/require a therapist to break confidentiality to prevent a future crime. But in this case, if I understand it correctly, the crimes confessed were 30-years-old. Add to this the fact that a therapist has to consider that patients often confess to things they did NOT do in order to "entertain" the therapist and one can see why betraying the therapist/patient confidentiality is a complicated subject.

And as others have pointed out, do we want pedophiles talking to therapists or not?

Is there anything to indicate that the therapist was complicit in this? It sounds like the wife, at the behest of her attorney, recorded the session unbeknownst to Collins OR the therapist.

Not disagreeing with anything above just a jumping off point that had me wondering...

 

[imjustagirl123]

"In New York, a person has five years from their 18th birthday to make an accusation of sexual abuse to authorities".

This is awful... Most people are not able to report by this time as they are still attempting to fight the demons inside.

This.

Fortunately I lived in Ireland and I was allowed to report it 9 years later but it was dismissed due to lack of evidence in the end but still I don't think there should be any length of time in reporting sexual abuse as it can take years or forever to deal with the consequences, ptsd, flashbacks etc..

As for 7th Heaven, I watched it every Sunday when I was growing up and it was always the kind of home I would have loved to have had, so loving (maybe that is just in fairytales). I can't explain in words how disappointed I was to hear of this. If he is convicted I hope he's never let out again.

 

[ThoughtFox]

I have to say I was never a fan of "Seventh Heaven." I didn't think the acting was bad, but I couldn't stand how the scripts made the kids sound five years older than they were, and too worldly-wise to be the kids of a preacher and his wife. As an actor, Stephen Collins is okay, but just not someone that interesting to me. The whole show seemed fake to me.

As far as the "confession" - I understand about privacy, but child-molesting is almost in a class by itself. If he said he had beaten a child, wouldn't they have to report that to the police? Same thing, in my opinion.

But you know - good old Hollywood. Other people surely knew about him. Other people surely kept his dirty secret. The same Hollywood types defend Woody Allen and Roman Polanski as "Artists" and "Geniuses" because they probably lean towards children themselves. But now he is busted.

In the post-Sandusky world, I don't see how anyone can justify this kind of behavior. They just can't.

 

[AlwaysShocked]

The wife received an anonymous message from the New York victim, which is what led to their separation and subsequent divorce. She also received a letter from either the husband or the then fiancé of that same victim, telling her they were thinking of filing suit against HER for failing to report him to police.

So far, no one has revealed exactly how the therapy session that was recorded came to be. But it was recorded at HIS therapist's office. And, per the tape, Collins had already given her a written "Disclosure" to her of his acts. She sounded pretty shocked to me.

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

Stephen Collins' Talent Agency Has "Cut Ties" With the Actor Following Child Molestation Allegations

Bruna Nessif, eonline
8 hours ago

Things continue to go downhill for Stephen Collins.

E! News has confirmed that the actor has been dropped by his Beverly Hills-based talent agency following the child molestation allegations . A rep for Agency of the Performing Arts, who has represented Collins for the past five years, tells us, "We have cut ties with Mr. Collins." ...

http://xfinity.comcast.net/articles/entertainment-eonline/20141011/b587571/

 

[Bobby_Steele]

7th Heaven.... It can not be true

 

[tlcya]

:wagon: Bobby_Steele

 

[gitana1]

I have several clients with intellectual disabilities who love this show and check out episodes from the library on a regular basis. How, pray tell, am I supposed to explain to them when they hear that the "preacher" did this to young girls (especially when one of those clients was sexually abused as a child herself?)

If they aren't avid news readers or gossip mag aficionados then maybe you won't have to.

 

[gitana1]

It does bother me, since it will make few and few people reach out for help. I would rather have a pedophile going to therapy than not.

I guess I just don't believe there is any lasting help for a pedophile.

 

[CHERIE.T]

Imhoo there is no help for pedophiles. Pedophilia is a nasty, vile addiction...an incurable addiction.

My now adult kids loved 7th Heaven, they watched it every week.
Believe it or not there was something about the dad that I didn't like...just never could figure out what it was.

 

[gitana1]

Turn it around for a moment: suppose you were in therapy. Would you want your counselor to discuss your victimization and the ensuing trauma with your friends and family members, your pastor, your employer and perhaps even your abuser himself? I'm sure you wouldn't and I wouldn't blame you.

The therapist-patient confidentiality rule is there to protect patients of all stripes.

Now I think most states allow/require a therapist to break confidentiality to prevent a future crime. But in this case, if I understand it correctly, the crimes confessed were 30-years-old. Add to this the fact that a therapist has to consider that patients often confess to things they did NOT do in order to "entertain" the therapist and one can see why betraying the therapist/patient confidentiality is a complicated subject.

And as others have pointed out, do we want pedophiles talking to therapists or not?

You are thinking about a different exception to privilege (the Tasaroff warning), but mandatory reporting rules supersede confidentiality/privilege.
Counselors are mandatory reporters and MUST report child abuse allegations. They have no choice:

Mandatory Exceptions To Confidentiality
Most of the mandatory exceptions to confidentiality are well known and understood. They include reporting child, elder and dependent adult abuse, and the so-called "duty to warn." However, there are other, lesserknown exceptions also required by law. Each will be presented in turn.


Mandatory Reporting
The Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act (CANRA) can be found in Penal Code §§11164 to 11174.3. The definition of "child abuse or neglect" includes physical injury inflicted by other than accidental means upon a child by another person, sexual abuse as defined in §11165.1, neglect as defined in §11165.2, willful cruelty or unjustifiable punishment as defined in §11165.3, and unlawful corporal punishment or injury as defined in §11165.4.1


When faced with a child, elder or dependent adult abuse reporting situation, it is important to keep in mind that these laws provide for an exception to what would have been confidential. Mandatory reporting laws specifically define the abuse that must be reported, prescribe the timing and method of such reporting, the immunities that come with reporting and penalties for the failure to report. Mandatory reporting requirements do not create a license for therapists to disclose confidential information in a manner that exceeds the bounds of the reporting requirements themselves. In other words, once a mandatory report has been made to the appropriate authorities, that information, and any previous or subsequent information not subject to a mandatory report, remains confidential.
http://www.camft.org/ScriptContent/CAMFTarticles/Confidentiality/ConfidentialityExceptions.htm


I'm not worried about this preventing pedophile from getting help. I don't believe anything can help them.

 

[gitana1]

BBM "all that Collins has confessed to"??? Yeah..that is all.:notgood:

I can't speak for Nova but I took him to mean that doing to Collins what he did to the kids would not be punishment. He'd probably even enjoy it.

 

[Plumeria5]

I can't speak for Nova but I took him to mean that doing to Collins what he did to the kids would not be punishment. He'd probably even enjoy it.

Maybe so.

I just really did not appreciate the Wsers previous post referring to me going to therapy and wouldn't I want my sessions kept private. First of all, I never went. And secondly, if the parent of a child does press charges, aren't all the details of the abuse discussed in court anyway? Seems like a lose/lose for the victim either way. I hadn't planned to write again as this really is hurtful. I guess that is great if some children just get over it and it doesn't affect them for the rest of their life as one poster said. But for others, it will be a memory they will never forget.

 

[gitana1]

Maybe so.

I just really did not appreciate the Wsers previous post referring to me going to therapy and wouldn't I want my sessions kept private. First of all, I never went. And secondly, if the parent of a child does press charges, aren't all the details of the abuse discussed in court anyway? Seems like a lose/lose for the victim either way. I hadn't planned to write again as this really is hurtful. I guess that is great if some children just get over it and it doesn't affect them for the rest of their life as one poster said. But for others, it will be a memory they will never forget.

But his post had nothing to do with therapy or anything. Not the one we are discussing. It had to do with wishing the same on Collins as he did on the kids.

Ive been reading Nova's posts for a long, long time and I don't think you'd ever catch him downplaying the abuse of a child. I disagree with him on the issue of abuse allegations that surface in therapy being disclosed but I'm very certain he would never suggest that abuse suffered by a child is no big deal.

 

[curioser]

I think the weird thing here, that has people questioning the disclosure, is that it wasn't the therapist who disclosed it. If there is supposed to be mandatory reporting for child molestation, then the therapist should have been the one to disclose it under those guidelines- boom, job done. The sketchy part is that the wife recorded the therapy session (btw was Collins aware he was being recorded? Not sure if I've seen that), and then she sat on it for awhile, and then she reported it. Why didn't the therapist report it in the first place? Why did the wife wait?