As you know, I am a firm believer in seeing our foster children succeed. Recently, I have become confused about how some foster children will succeed if they are placed into abusive environments similar to the homes that they were removed from. It is an injustice to these children and needs to be stopped.
Last week, the Chicago Sun Times reported that, “A River Forest man who took in dozens of foster children and formerly headed Chicago Catholic Publications was ordered held in lieu of a $50 million cash bond Saturday for allegedly sexually assaulting two girls.
Robert L. Gaskill, 63, molested the minors over a period between 1996 to 2009, according to Cook County prosecutors.
Gaskill, who was arrested at his home Thursday, has operated a foster care service with his wife in their three-story frame home, as well as a foster care support system called Tapestry Chicago, officials said.
He also served on the board of the River Forest Youth Soccer program and was a program coordinator in the late 1990s.
Gaskill currently works as the marketing director at Lydia Home in Chicago, a residential facility for abused children. He previously worked for Mercy Home for Boys and Girls in Chicago.”
Gaskill is just one of many foster parents who are abusing foster children. Please do not judge me harshly on this statement, as I am fully aware that there are many wonderful foster parents doing amazing work with their foster children. For the individuals such as Gaskill, something needs to be done.
I have talked and written about conducting “psychological evaluations” for all foster parents wanting to be foster parents. I still stand by my conviction. It must be done if we want to prevent predators such as Gaskill from hurting innocent foster children. Government needs to address this issue and find the funding to protect our foster children from further abuse.
We need to send foster children a clear message that “Not everyone in the world hurts you!”
Dr. Sue
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