NEW YORK -- New York State's Department of Social Services has dropped its inquiry into charges that film actor-director Woody Allen sexually molested his 8-year-old adopted daughter, saying the allegation was unfounded.
The agency's decision was disclosed late Monday in a state issued by Allen and was verified by his attorney, Elkan Abrmowitz.
Allen said he received a letter from the agency dated Oct. 7, telling him that it had closed its 14-month invstigation. He quoted it as saying, 'No credible evidence was found that the child named in this report has been abused or maltreated. This report has, therefore, been considered unfounded.'
The 57-year-old Allen noted that the report came seven months after a team of child abuse experts at Yale-New Haven Hospital in Connecticut also concluded no sexual molestation of Dylan Farrow had taken place. Despite these two reports in his favor, 'I have not been allowed to see or speak to my daughter for 15 months,' he said.
Abramowitz said he thought the Department of Social Serices should have announced its conclusions earlier.
'But it helps in our efforts to convince people that it (the molestation) didn't happen,' Abramowitz said. 'Obviously, we're gratified that the agency has indicated it is not only dopping its investigation but that there is no credible evidence that the charge was true.
'I am only saddened because it took as long as it did to come to this conclusion because it prevented Mr. Allen from seeing his daughter for 15 months.
'Now that all the investigations have been dropped, Mr. Allen's only concern is to resume normal vistation rights with Dylan.'
The state agency got the case when Dylan's adoptive mother, actress Mia Farrow, took her to a doctor in Manhattan and the child allegedly told him her father had touched her sexually during a weekend visit to Farrow's summer home in Connecticut in August 1992. The doctor reported this to Social Services as required by law.
Connecticut authorities also were informed of the child's allegation by a doctor in Connecticut, resulting in a year-long inquiry that resulted in failure to prosecute Allen, although a state's attorney said there was 'probable cause' to do so. The attorney said he did not want to drag Dylan through a dramatic court trial.
Allen lost his legal battle for sole custody of Dylan, his biological son, Satchel, 6, and another adopted son, Moses, 17, last May. The State Supreme Court judge in that case ruled Allen could not see Dylan for at least six months and possibly longer.
The custody case was complicated by Allen's romance with another of Farrow's adopted children, Soon-Yi Previn, 22. The judge said the affair 'magnified' Allen's deficiences as a parent, adding that the actor 'still fails to understand what he did was wrong.'
Farrow's attorney was not immediately available for comment on the latest development in the case.
