TROY, Mo. – A former foster parent is headed to prison for sexually abusing the children he was supposed to protect.

Victims say the system ignored them for years and now a prosecutor alleges that state protection workers appear to have ignored at least one direct warning from a victim.

The former foster parent in question is 62-year-old Ronald Graham, who headed to his prison sentence through the shouts of people who attended his hearing.

“Are you ashamed of yourself for molesting those children?” Graham was asked.

He had no answer as he began his 10-year prison sentence for sexually abusing his foster children.

“It took so long for this stuff to come to light,” Diamond Taylor said.

Taylor testified about the abuse she endured more than a decade ago, saying, “I just wanted to give the people who are too afraid to talk a voice.”

She thinks about her children and how she should have never had to face what she did as state regulators reportedly stood silent.

“Ron’s been able to slip through the cracks, so that makes me fear for other kids,” Taylor said.

Lincoln County Prosecutor Mike Wood charged Graham with sex abuse in 2020. He says DCFS already knew about credible allegations but failed to act.

“I was surprised to see that and disappointed at the same time. Our records indicate that there was a finding by preponderance of evidence that there was child sexual abuse going on in 2018,” Wood said.

FOX 2 followed up, asking, “Wouldn’t that mean they should tell prosecutors about something like that?”

“Certainly, but I think there are a lot of preponderance of evidence cases that aren’t reported to law enforcement,” Wood responded back.

“Should they be?” FOX 2 asked.

“I believe they should be,” Wood answered, adding, “Those are the people who are going to be on the front lines.”

FOX 2 asked Taylor, “Do you feel failed by DCFS?”

“Yes. Oh yes,” Taylor said as she described case workers back then. “After a while, it’s just another person walking in and out the door.”

Now, the man who was in charge of children’s safety faces prison because of the courageous testimony of seven former foster kids.

“They needed somewhere to feel safe and that place was not safe,” Taylor said.

Graham’s attorney called his client’s 10-year prison sentence essentially a death sentence, as he said Graham has a fatal illness that may only give him a few years to live.

The Missouri Department of Social Services also responded to say that while it cannot talk about specific cases, it is required by law to contact law enforcement when it finds credible complaints and that it has a special unit that investigates employee misconduct.