Province vows sweeping review after Calgary foster parent charged with sex abuse

By Sherri Zickefoose and Jason Fekete

CALGARY- The provincial minister promising a sweeping review of a Calgary foster home says she's "devastated" to learn a city man who opened his home to dozens of troubled boys is now charged with sex crimes against three of them.

Garry Prokopishin, once named foster parent of the year at his association -- where he was also a director -- is accused of offering the teens money in exchange for sexual acts.

Police said Thursday that Prokopishin, 51, was the primary caregiver for the alleged victims he hosted in the Beddington home he shares with his wife.

Calgary police, who are now scouring the country for other former foster teens who lived in the couple's Beddington home, say the couple took in 55 kids over the past 20 years.

"I was very saddened, it's a terrible situation," said Children and Youth Services Minister Yvonne Fritz.

"I've ordered an immediate review and when that review is completed, then I will be acting on those recommendations as quickly as possible if there's any recommendations made for change," she told reporters in Edmonton.

"I will make changes quickly. Our responsibility is to protect our children and our youth in care."

Fritz says she learned of the seven-month-long investigation as criminal charges were announced Thursday.

Prokopishin is charged with luring a child by cellphone, three counts each of obtaining or attempting to obtain sex from a person under 18 years of age and sexual contact with a youth by a person in authority.

The allegations have not been proven in court.

Prokopishin is a director for the Calgary & District Foster Parents Association and was named 2007 Foster Family of the Year.

Prokopishin was profiled in the association's April 2009 newsletter, saying "in the beginning he did not like children at all and had no intention of fostering." He changed his mind when his wife set up an interview, according to the write-up.

The couple started taking in teenage girls, but moved to boys exclusively, the article says.

Associates say the man has a good reputation.

Doreen White, 70, has known the couple for more than 20 years and was a director with the Calgary and District Foster Parents Association at the same time as Prokopishin. She had no idea Prokopishin was under investigation.

"I am shocked. I am totally shocked. They're the nicest people. They're foster parents and I liked them," said White. "That's too hard to believe."

White said the couple always referred to their foster children as their own and would frequently take them to events such as roller-skating or the annual Christmas party.

"Gosh, some of them have come to the banquets and everything and talked very highly of them. They said how they loved them as parents."

All of the boys who lived in the home were high-risk teens with past troubles with police, and drug and alcohol problems, police said. They were between 14 and 17, and up to five teens lived there at a time.

Last June, police received a tip from an agency that sparked their investigation. Police did not confirm if the allegations that a man was allegedly engaging in sexual acts with underage boys was reported by Children's Services.

Three boys under 18 were victimized between January 2006 and April 2008, police allege.

No children have been living in the home since June, police say.

Investigators have interviewed 13 out of 55 former foster children who lived with the man and his wife.

"Our investigators have literally travelled from one end of the country to the other end of the country trying to interview these kids," said police spokesman Kevin Brookwell.

The abuse is believed to have occurred over a span of several months to several years.

Prokopishin has been released on $800 bail. He is banned from alcohol and contact with his alleged victims. He is to appear in provincial court Feb. 19.

Fritz says she's confident the serious criminal charges won't taint the program's reputation.

"Youth and children in foster care are very loved and very much a part of the families for the homes they are in. This situation is highly unusual," she said. "We have over 4,000 youth in care. This is very rare to have this type of situation. We have excellent foster care."

Provincial regulations require anyone applying for a foster home licence to undergo rigorous screening, including criminal record checks and provide medical and personal references.

Several neighbours said Thursday the man mostly kept to himself, and was generally only seen heading to and from work at odd hours of the day and late into the night.

A neighbour who lives across the street from the home said for the past six or seven years there have been up to five young boys living in the house at any given time.

"Every six months or so new kids would come and some would leave," he said. "There were always kids coming and going. No girls, just boys, usually ages 12 and up."