Phillip Groveland founded the Groveland Foster Facility in 1978. It was a private facility, unlike the county-run foster facilities located throughout California. The mission of Groveland was to provide a safe and welcoming place for pre-teen and teenage boys who, for various reasons, didn’t have families or couldn’t remain with their families. Some boys had been orphaned or abandoned by their parents. Some had come from difficult home situations, including physical and mental abuse, or had parents who were incarcerated or were addicted to drugs or alcohol. Some were kicked out of their homes because they were gay or for other reasons. The objective at Groveland was to find families looking to foster and, eventually, adopt a young teenage boy. That age range and gender were always the most difficult for fostering and adoption, and Phillip Groveland wanted to solve that problem.

Thursday, October 3rd, 2019, After School

It was a Thursday. As usual, Baxter Hansen sat in his room after he returned from school. Of course, it wasn’t his room. It was the room he shared with Mike Miller at Groveland. Mike had been told a couple was interested in adopting a young teen, and he was meeting with them. Mike was excited to be considered. Baxter hoped Mike would be picked; he was Baxter’s best friend at Groveland and a really nice guy who deserved to be adopted.

Baxter was also a young teen. He thought he was a nice guy; so did his friends and the administrators at Groveland. But so far, in the almost fifteen months he’d been there, no couples had been interested in talking to him to find out if he would be a good fit for them to foster or adopt. There were two reasons for that lack of interest.

First, he didn’t have any parents. His dad had been a soldier who had been killed in Afghanistan when Baxter was six years old. His mom had been killed in an automobile accident fifteen months ago; that was the reason he was at Groveland.

His mom had been born and raised in Canada. She met his dad when they were both attending Stanford University. She didn’t have any relatives who lived in the United States; she’d had family in Winnipeg and Edmonton. Since none of those relatives were United States citizens and Baxter had been born and raised in California and had US citizenship, they weren’t eligible to foster him. To adopt him, they would have to work with CPS — Child Protective Services — in California, then hire an attorney and go to court in California; to move him to Canada they would then have to work with Children’s Services in the Province of Alberta, then hire an attorney and go to court in Calgary or Edmonton. This was something that would take time and be an expense that they couldn’t afford. So they sent an SNR — a Statement of Non-Responsibility — to CPS. Despite the SNR couples looking for a young teen to foster or adopt would see Baxter’s Canadian relatives as a potential problem; if his Canadian relatives decided to go to court and won, they would have the right to adopt him and move him to Canada. The rights of relatives always eclipsed the rights of non-relatives in such situations.

His dad’s mother was in her late sixties and had serious health problems, so she couldn’t take on a young teen to raise. His dad had been an only child, and there were no other living relatives in his family in the United States. There were distant relatives living in Denmark; California Child Protective Services wasn’t able to locate them.

So, CPS turned over responsibility for Baxter to the staff at Groveland because they felt it would provide the best environment for him.

Second, Baxter was gay. When he entered the foster care system, he answered ‘Yes’ to that question on the input form, and it was so noted on his documents. He felt that was the real reason no one wanted to adopt him. Being a teenage boy made it difficult to find interested couples; they seemed to prefer pre-teens. Add being gay, and it was like a big red NO had been stamped on the front of his file.

Having no one interested enough to even talk to him made him sad. It also made him angry, something that was unusual. Baxter wasn’t the kind of kid who got angry about things. ‘Or maybe,’ he’d say to himself, ‘no one’s interested because I’ve been stuck in here for so long.’ He recognized that was nothing more than a rationalization.

He decided that being gay and outing himself was the real reason. That made him angry at himself; maybe he shouldn’t have checked that box. But that would have been a lie; he didn’t lie. So, he was stuck. He decided that being truthful was more important than outing himself. No use being upset about it.

He wondered how Mike was doing. Mike was his fifth roommate. The other four had been placed for fostering or adoption. Well, he knew that he’d find out soon enough. Meanwhile, he focused on his World Geography textbook. There’d be a quiz on Monday. Mr. Koehler always gave a quiz on Mondays. He always called them surprise quizzes, even though they were never a surprise. Baxter liked Mr. Koehler.

A few minutes later, there was a knock on his door.

“Come on in,” Baxter called out, thinking it was one of the other boys.

The door opened; it was Mrs. Mayhew, the Facility Director of Groveland.

“Hi, Baxter. How are you doing?”

“Good.” He stood up.

“You don’t have to stand. Are you studying?”

Baxter sat down, and so did Mrs. Mayhew. “Yes. Mr. Koehler’s going to give us one of his never-a-surprise surprise quizzes Monday, as usual.” Baxter grinned.

“Do you think I can pull you away from your textbook for a while?”

“Sure. What would you like me to do?” Baxter liked doing chores and running errands for the Groveland staff. It gave him something different to do and made his days more interesting. Besides, he liked the staff members; they were all friendly.

“There’s a couple here who would like to talk to you about being adopted,” she said.

“Really?” Baxter was stunned. “Do they know that I’m gay?”

“Yes, and they want to talk to you. They are a gay couple, two men. They are married and have an adopted daughter; she’s twelve. They decided that they’d like to adopt a boy to round out their family and have a brother for the girl. They are willing to adopt a boy regardless of his sexuality.”

“Wow. That’s really interesting. What are their names?”

“Vincent and Robert Choi. Vincent is Chinese; he was born and raised in Walnut Creek. Robert is Caucasian and is also from Walnut Creek. They decided to take Choi as their married name.”

“What’s the girl’s name?”

“Elizabeth. She’s here, too.”

At first that surprised Baxter. Then he realized it was a good thing. He’d have to fit in with their family, including their daughter. He smiled. Elizabeth was a nice name for a girl.

“Where do they live now?”

“In Walnut Creek.”

“What do they do? Work, I mean.”

“Vincent is an English teacher. Rob is a programming manager for a high-tech company. Elizabeth is in the eighth grade. Let’s go downstairs, and you can meet them. Then you can ask them all of the questions you have. I’m sure they’ll have questions for you, too.”

Baxter was nervous and worried. “Am I dressed okay? Should I change? Should I comb my hair?”

She smiled. “You look fine, Baxter. Just relax and be yourself.”

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Okay. Thank you, Mrs. Mayhew.”

“You’re welcome, Baxter.” She smiled and opened the door. “We’re going to the small meeting room downstairs. Would you like to enter first?”

Baxter thought about that for a few seconds and decided it would show that he wasn’t shy, which he’d seem to be if he walked in following Mrs. Mayhew. Besides, she was a rather large lady, and he’d be partially hidden behind her.

“Okay.”

When they got to the small meeting room, the door was already open. Baxter walked in and stopped. The two men stood, and the girl stood behind one of them.

“Hi, I’m Baxter Hansen.”

“Let me know if you need anything,” Mrs. Mayhew said, and then she left and closed the door.

“Hi, Baxter. I’m Rob Choi.” They shook hands. Rob had blond hair and bright blue eyes. He looked young.

Baxter turned to the other man. His black hair was short and spiked, and he had typical Asian almond-shaped eyes and complexion.

“Hi, Baxter. I’m Vincent Choi,” he said. They shook hands.

Elizabeth was standing behind Rob and shyly peeked around him. Baxter grinned, then introduced himself. “Hi, Elizabeth. I’m Baxter.”

She seemed to decide that he was okay because she smiled and stepped forward, and they shook hands, too. Baxter didn’t expect that a pre-teen kid would do that, especially a girl. He thought it was nice.

“Where do you go to school?” Baxter asked her.

“WCI. That’s Walnut Creek Intermediate. I’m in the eighth grade.”

“I was in the eighth grade at WCI last year,” he said. “How do you like it there?”

“It’s good,” she said, then paused for a second. “Real good,” she added. “Better than where I was in the sixth and seventh grades.”

“Where was that?”

“Cooper Middle School. It’s in a small town near Stockton.”

“You’ll have to tell me about it sometime.”

“Let’s sit down,” Vincent said. Once they were seated, he asked, “Baxter, where do you go to school now?”

“I’m a freshman at Las Lomas High.”

“Do you like it there?”

“Yes. I think it’s a great school. The football team’s really good this year. Maybe they’ll even get to the playoffs. But, if they don’t…” he shrugged his shoulders, “…can’t always have everything, I guess.” He grinned.

“Do you go out for any sports?” Rob asked.

“No. I’m focusing on getting good grades and qualifying for as many AP classes as I can take. I want to go to Cal and get a degree in Computer Science.”

“Do you get good grades?”

“Yes. I’ve gotten A’s in all my classes starting in elementary school. I want to get all A’s at Las Lomas.”

“For someone who’s fourteen, those are quite impressive objectives,” Rob said. “I received my Computer Science degrees at Cal.”

Leaning forward, Baxter asked, “What degrees did you get? How did you like it there?”

“I loved it. I got my bachelor’s and masters’ degrees in Computer Science. I didn’t go for a PhD because I decided that it wasn’t applicable for the kind of work I wanted to do. It also meant that I was able to save a lot of money.”

“Did you live in a dorm?”

“Yes, Foothill Dorm, for the first two years. I think that it’s the best dorm at Cal. Then I moved into a three-bedroom apartment with two other guys. It was less expensive.”

“Did you two meet at Cal?” Baxter asked.

“We met in high school,” Rob replied. “We both went to Northgate.”

Vincent added, “When we left for college, I went to UC San Diego, which has a highly-rated Education Studies program. I decided to teach high school English because so many kids get to high school and go on to college without having adequate knowledge of their own language.” He smiled. “I’m a teacher at Las Lomas High.”

“What classes do you teach? I don’t remember seeing your name on any of the freshman English 1 classes.”

“I teach English 3 and 4, AP English Literature and Composition, Media Studies, and Creative Writing. My students are mostly juniors and seniors. The classes I teach that sophomores can take are Media Studies and Creative Writing. Each is a one-semester class. Media Studies is in the fall semester; Creative Writing is in the spring semester. You can take either or both semesters depending on what other elective classes you want to take.”

“I’m taking English 1; that’s required. Next year I’ll have to take English 2. Could I take your Media Studies and Creative Writing classes next year as electives?”

“Yes. Stop by my office, Baxter. We’ll sit down, and we can see if you can fit it in your class schedule. My office is in the English Department office in room 510. My office hours are on Wednesdays and Fridays during Staff Collaboration from seven-thirty to eight-thirty and during lunch any day by appointment.”

“What math class are you taking?” Rob asked.

“Geometry Honors.”

“That seems like an advanced class for a freshman.”

“I think it’s a lot more interesting than the regular geometry class would have been. I really like my teacher, Mr. Cooperman. I took Algebra 1 in the eighth grade. I’m going to take Algebra 2 and Trig next year.”

“Good grief!” That outburst was from Elizabeth. “You guys haven’t told Baxter anything about yourselves or me. He probably has a lot of questions about the three of us. And I know I have a lot of questions I want to ask him, and they don’t have anything to do with school.”

“Touché, Elizabeth,” Rob said, laughing. “Let’s start by letting Baxter ask us some questions.”

“Vincent said he’s an English teacher at Las Lomas High. Where do you work, Rob?” Baxter asked.

“I work for Ephellia Software in Oakland. We write custom e-commerce software. Do you know what that is?”

“Ah-ha! A snap quiz!” Baxter said. He stopped and thought for a few seconds. “E-commerce software is for buying and selling things on the internet or over the phone. Custom e-commerce software is designed and coded for each customer, so it fits their specific needs. You probably start with one of several basic design templates and plug-in standard modules that you hook together. That reduces the amount of custom code you’d have to write for each client.”

Rob stared at Baxter and shook his head. “How did you come up with that answer? It fits what we do like a glove.”

“Well, I know what e-commerce is, I know what software is, so I put one and one together. Then the ‘custom’ part means it’s not sold off the shelf, but it’s designed for each customer. Sort of like what Salesforce.com does, but for e-commerce instead of customer relations management.”

“You’re fourteen years old. How do you know what Salesforce.com does?”

Baxter smiled. “Last year, when I was taking computer programming at Walnut Creek Intermediate, we took a tour of the Salesforce offices in San Francisco. We also visited the Adobe and Twitter offices while we were in the city.”

“Now I see why Baxter gets all A’s,” Vincent said.

Elizabeth giggled. “Okay, let’s stop talking about all this computer and school stuff. Baxter, what do you like to do to have fun?”

“I read. I love to read. I have a tablet with the Kindle app, and I signed up on several sites where I can download free books.”

Rob interrupted. “Don’t you have to have a credit card when you sign up with Amazon?”

“You’re right, it’s required. I have a credit card.”

“Really? I thought banks wouldn’t issue credit cards to kids.”

“When my dad died, there was a settlement for my mom and for me. Mom opened an account for me for college and transferred my part to that account. Then when she died, she left everything to me, and it was transferred into a trust attached to my account. The bank sent me a credit card that’s set up for automatic payment from my account. It has a daily and weekly limit. I hardly ever use it, but it’s good to have in case I need to buy something like jeans or other clothes when mine get too small for me. I used it to open my Amazon account.”

“Another reason why Baxter gets all A’s,” Vincent said.

“Let’s get back to my question about having fun, Baxter,” Elizabeth interjected. “You like to read. What else do you like to do for fun?”

“I like to swim. I like to play tennis. I like jujitsu and taekwondo, and I’ve taken classes in both. I’d like to take advanced classes, but while I’m at Groveland, I can’t. I like video games, but I’m not a gamer. I just play them on my laptop for fun sometimes.

“I like to write programs and apps and design websites for my friends at school. I don’t have a website of my own because the rules here at Groveland say you can’t have a website or a page on Facebook or a Twitter account or be on websites like Instagram or Snapchat or any others like those. Just email and texting are okay. That rule is supposed to be for our safety.

“I like to take pictures. I have a digital camera with a lens that zooms from wide-angle to telephoto. My mom gave it to me for my thirteenth birthday. I like to edit the pictures I take using Photoshop. I signed up for student licenses for it and Bridge, Lightroom, and Dreamweaver with my credit card.

“Let’s see… I like to listen to music. Rock, Indi, almost everything except most country and rap. I like classical, mostly choruses and symphonies, some operas, and some jazz.

“I like to hang out with my friends at school. It’s hard to have any close friends away from school or to get together after school and on the weekends because of the rules here. For example, I can’t have an overnight with a friend at his house or here, I can’t stay for dinner at a friend’s house because we have a set time when we have to be back here. Groveland has a van that takes us to and from school, so that ties me down.”

Baxter took a deep breath, allowing someone else to talk, but Elizabeth smiled at him and with a gesture motioned for him to keep going. He could see she enjoyed listening to him talk. He took another breath and continued.

“I have a skateboard, and I’d like to go to the skate park on the weekend and learn and try out new tricks, and I’d like to ski and to go hiking and backpacking, and I’d like to ride my bike, but I haven’t been able to do any of those things since I came here. There are more things I’d like to do for fun, but those are the ones I both like and would like to do the most.”

“Wow! That’s a lot,” Elizabeth said.

“So, what do you like to do for fun?” Baxter asked her.

“Take naps, and I need one now because I’m exhausted from listening to all the heavy-duty things you like to do for fun!”

Baxter laughed and pointed at Elizabeth. “I’ll bet you like to do a lot more than take naps for fun. So, spill!”

“I like to draw and paint. I like to trampoline… I mean, jump on our trampoline. I like to swim, but in our pool instead of a lake or the ocean because I don’t like sand and dirt between my toes or inside my swimsuit, and I don’t like to swim where fish pee and poop.”

Baxter laughed at her last comment. “You guys have a pool? And a trampoline?” Baxter asked.

“Yup, we have both of those, and a tennis court, too,” Elizabeth replied. “I like to read, and I like writing stories. I love riding roller coasters! I like music, and I’m learning to play the guitar. I like playing in the snow when we go to the mountains, but I don’t ski. Skiing looks like I’d fall down all the time. That’s like ice skating and roller skating and skateboarding; I don’t do those, either, because of the falling down part. I play tennis. I like to get together with my friends. I like eating, especially ice cream. And hiking on Mt. Diablo. And lots more stuff.”

“That’s a wow, too! Thanks for telling me some of the fun things you like to do,” Baxter said. “Turns out that we like to do a lot of things that are the same.”

Baxter didn’t notice, but Rob turned to Vince, raised his eyebrows, and smiled, then Vincent nodded and grinned. They liked Baxter and were pleased by the way he and Elizabeth related to each other.