Crime & Safety

Investigation Continues Into Sex Abuse Allegations

River Forest foster parent and child welfare advocate Robert Gaskill remains jailed after molestation accusations surface.

The large home on Ashland Avenue is surrounded by a white picket fence, the only fenced-in yard on the block. Curtains and makeshift drapes cover all of the home's windows. A pan of baked goods and a note from a well-wisher remain on the front porch.

Neighbors say it's a startling contrast to the usual daily activity at the home in the 600 block of Ashland Avenue, typically filled with children playing and friends of the well-known Gaskill family dropping by.

But since shocking allegations of sexual abuse surfaced over the weekend, the three-story home has been empty.

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Robert Gaskill, 63, was charged with two counts of predatory sexual assault of a child after two young women came forward accusing Gaskill, their foster father, of a 13-year pattern of abuse. Gaskill remains jailed after a Cook County judge ordered him held on $50 million cash bond.

Earlier:

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According to multiple news stories, Gaskill and his wife have fostered 75 children over the past 20 years, many with disabilities.

"I have always, always loved children, and for me, it's the innocence of them and the need for close adult mentoring and modeling and advocating and love in this busy crazy world," Mary Gaskill told Wednesday Journal in a 2009 story. "We know there are a lot of great foster families out there, but we also know there are a lot of things that are real messy in the world, so we do whatever we can, in big and small ways."

Investigators say the case began to unfold late last month, when the two women walked into the River Forest police station to file their report, which alleged a pattern of sexual abuse from 1996 to 2009. Authorities would not release the current ages of the alleged victims, or say how old they were when the alleged abuse began.

On Thursday, officers arrested Gaskill at his River Forest home. Neighbors say the news stunned the idyllic neighborhood, situated just up the block from St. Luke Parish School.

"If it's true, it's tragic for everyone involved," said Jim August, Gaskill's next-door neighbor for more than 20 years. "I hope the family has the strength and faith to see them through this."

A spokesman for state's Department of Children and Family Services said three adopted children and two foster children living in the River Forest home were removed and placed into other homes.

The charges have sent shockwaves through the foster care community. David Anderson, executive director of the child welfare agency LYDIA Home Association, where Gaskill began work as a part-time marketing director in May 2011, said the organization was "deeply saddened" to learn of the charges.

"Our hearts go out to the alleged victims and the Gaskill family," he said.

The Gaskills also co-founded Tapestry Chicago, a foster care support service that helps guide potential foster parents through the adoption process.The Tapestry Chicago website does not list a phone number. An email to the agency and phone calls to members of "The Tapestry Team," which includes a medical consultant and a pediatrician with a "special interest in evaluating child abuse," were not immediately returned.

On Monday, police remained tight-lipped about the investigation, except to say they're working with DCFS and that no other victims had come forward.

"I know we're going to continue to investigate. Where that takes us, I'm not sure," Police Chief Gregory Weiss said. "I'm hoping for the sake of victims that it's limited. But when there is up to 75 children that might be involved, who knows where it might end up."


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