ONETIME TOP FATHER FACES SEX CHARGE

ONETIME TOP FATHER FACES SEX CHARGE

Columbus Dispatch, The (OH) - Thursday, May 23, 1991

Author: Steve Stephens, Dispatch Police Reporter

A former national Father of the Year who has adopted dozens of handicapped children was charged in New York City on Tuesday with sexually abusing one of his adopted daughters.

Kodzo Dobosu, 51, a bachelor who also was known as Kojo Odo , lived in Columbus from 1984 until he resigned as administrator of special adoptions for the state of Ohio in September 1988.

Dobosu's 14-year-old daughter, who attends a class for slow learners, told teachers at her school that her father molested her, New York City police said. The girl became upset upon seeing a puppet show about sexual abuse, police said.

Dobosu is charged with one count of sexual abuse and one count of endangering the welfare of a child, both misdemeanors. If convicted, he could be sentenced to a year in jail.

He has received national recognition for his adoptions. He and his family were featured in news reports in Columbus and New York City and on the television shows Donahue and West 57th.

The National Father's Day Committee named him Father of the Year in 1983.

Currently, 19 children, ages 4 and up, live in Dobosu's house in Harlem. Authorities are not yet sure if they all are his adopted children. The children were cared for by one of Dobosu's adult adopted sons until Dobosu was freed after an arraignment yesterday.

Several of the children were questioned by detectives yesterday.

Dobosu began adopting children, most of them with physical or mental handicaps, in 1972. He worked as an adoption consultant to Columbia University in New York City before coming to Columbus.

When Dobosu arrived in Columbus in 1984 to take a $30,000-a-year job with the Ohio Department of Human Services, he brought 28 adopted children with him. He adopted at least four more children while in Ohio.

A Human Services department spokeswoman said she did not know why Dobosu resigned and moved.

Edition: Home Final

Section: NEWS

Page: 06C

Index Terms: KODZO DOBOSU SEX ABUSE ADOPTION CHILDREN US FAMILY AWARD

Record Number: 9105230021

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH Copyright (c) 1991 The Dispatch Printing Co.