In the summer of 2008, a 13-year-old boy from San Francisco emerged from a government van and scanned his new surroundings. Five handsome houses, a small school and an old gymnasium stood on 11 rural acres in the Central Valley that bordered an almond orchard.
Foster care residents at the Excell Center ranch, a group home for foster boys with histories of violence or mental disabilities. The center, in the Central Valley, houses 52 youths ages 10 to 18... read full story
