A New Direction for 4 Orphaned Brothers, Sisters

Skateboarders call it doing a “180 Ollie”--picking yourself up and, in an instant, turning yourself in a totally new direction.

That’s what the four Lee orphans are doing, thanks to their teenage skateboarding buddies at Fairfax High School and strangers who banded together in a desperate campaign to help the youngsters stay together.

The children--15-year-old twins Shane and Patrick, and sisters Grace, 12, and Emily, 13--were left parentless two months ago when their mother died of a heart attack.

They spent several days in temporary shelters before a friend of their mother reunited them and moved them into her small Westside apartment.

But that turned out to be a temporary reprieve. The woman’s landlord decided that the children were in violation of the lease. They were ordered to leave the apartment by today.

A week ago, the four seemed on the verge of being scattered among individual foster homes--or worse. Because foster parents often are difficult to find for teenagers, the twin boys knew they could end up in Los Angeles County’s McClaren Hall, a children’s crisis center that often houses troubled youngsters and juvenile delinquents.

Some timely intervention by the skateboarders changed that.

They tipped off a school counselor about the plight of Patrick and Shane and their sisters. The counselor got a pair of school social workers involved. The workers enlisted the help of a private psychotherapist who had contacts within a gay parents support group. Members of that group came to the orphans’ rescue.

On Tuesday, the Lee children learned they have a new home. And, for a change, a father.

“I couldn’t let those kids be split up,” said Gavin Glynn, who will serve as their foster dad until he can adopt them.

“These are kids coming out of a tragic situation, not out of a tragic environment. They are very loving, hopeful, ambitious kids.”

Glynn, a 40-year-old television writer, is already the father of a 7-year-old boy he is in the process of adopting. They live in a five-bedroom home in the West Adams district.

He met the Lee children last weekend. Over dinner at a Norm’s Restaurant, he heard the heartbreaking tale of how the youngsters were left alone after their mother died Dec. 6.

Katherine Lee, 46, was an employee of a Venice moving and storage company. She was a single parent: Her husband had walked out on the family and dropped from sight nearly a dozen years earlier.

Lee had battled cancer. But the treatment for that had led to heart problems that caused her to be hospitalized early last year.

Her children immediately called 911 when Lee was stricken with a heart attack in late November at the family’s North Hollywood home. Patrick followed instructions relayed to him on the phone by the emergency operator and performed CPR as paramedics responded. But his mother died later at UCLA Medical Center.

Determined to Keep Siblings Together

After the four children’s brief stint in temporary housing, their friends were determined to keep them from being swept into Los Angeles County’s 51,000-child foster-care system and separated.

With the approval of a distant relative who is unable to take in the four, the Lee children were claimed by Rebecca Toole, a former neighbor of Lee. Toole is a medical office worker and the mother of an 11-year-old. She led the Lee children through a difficult Christmas with the assistance of friends who helped with gifts. January’s eviction order was a jolt to everyone.

“I’d used up all my savings by that time or else we’d have moved instantly,” said Toole--who helped the four children gather photos and other mementos from their old house before its furnishings were carted away. “I wish I could have kept all four of them. I would have if I could.”

Shane, Patrick, Emily and Grace worried that they would be split up four ways when they left Toole. “Maybe,” Patrick told one of his skateboarding pals, “Shane and I could stay together and Emily and Grace could stay together. We could stay two and two, and be close enough to talk.”

Skateboarder Jason Mendez, also 15, asked his parents if Patrick and Shane could move in with him. That was not possible, but Jason mentioned his friends’ dilemma to Fairfax High counselor Amanda Jiggins.

Jiggins is popular with Fairfax High’s skateboarders because she lets them store their boards in her office during the school day. Skateboards may not be ridden on campus.

“I have my little posse of about 12 or 15 skateboarders. Shane and Patrick are part of the bunch,” Jiggins said.

It was Jason who told Jiggins of Lee’s heart attack. Jiggins immediately took Shane and Patrick aside and quietly inquired about their well-being.

“I asked them if they were OK, if they needed anyone to talk to. They said, ‘No, we’re fine, we have each other.’ I asked about their sisters. They said Emily was real sad. I decided I had to find out what was happening to these kids,” she said.

“I was so worried that the second they got into the system they’d be dispersed,” Jiggins said. “The boys had said it: They had each other.”

Jiggins alerted school social worker Brenda Rappaport. She is a licensed family therapist who assists troubled Fairfax High students through a state-funded program called Healthy Start. She also serves Burroughs Jr. High School, where Grace and Emily are enrolled.

Rappaport and campus Parent Center coordinator Heather Evans began spreading the word that a new home was needed for four worthy children. Rappaport also mentioned the search to West Los Angeles psychotherapist Terry Jordan, who shares a private practice office suite with her.

Jordan remembered that her brother, Grant Gochin, is affiliated with the gay fathers support group Pop Luck. Gochin, a Chatsworth financial planner, e-mailed the group’s 160 members on Jan. 24. Twelve hours later, Glynn responded. “The Lee kids can live here,” he said.

Glynn contacted the private children’s placement group that he worked with when he took in his son. Sylvia Fogelman, founder of the Southern California Foster Family and Adoption Agency, was astounded by his offer.

“It’s unusual for people to reach out quite this way. Most people are wary of teenagers, even one,” Fogelman said.

‘I Think It’s

Going to Be Good’

Because Glynn already was certified to be a foster parent, things moved quickly. A department employee showed up around midnight Monday to collect the children, and Tuesday the children began settling in at Glynn’s home.

“I think it’s going to be good,” said Shane that afternoon. “It can’t get worse.”

By the day’s end the four also found themselves deep within the system: The first order of business by the county was to clamp a lid of secrecy over the case, prohibiting further contact with the children by The Times.

On Thursday, county officials began the closed-door process of making them wards of the court. A county worker showed up early to take the children to a surprise court hearing. Shane and Patrick convinced her to instead let them go to Fairfax High and take semester final exams.

Declining to comment directly on the case, department director Anita Bock nonetheless praised Glynn. “Sibling groups are difficult to place. Teenagers and preteens are harder to place. They bring a specific set of challenges,” she said. “It’s great to find somebody who can take all the children.”

On Friday, those who rallied to help Grace, Emily, Patrick and Shane were still at work.

Jason Mendez was figuring out how he can get his parents fingerprinted and background checked so that his skateboarding buddies can once again sleep over at his house. Now that they are in the system, that procedure is required by officials.

Grant Cochin worked with a lawyer friend to complete paperwork establishing an education fund for the Lee kids. Contributions can be made to the “Lee Children’s Irrevocable Trust” through Gochin at Merrill Lynch Private Client Group, 16830 Ventura Blvd. No. 601, Encino, CA 91436.

Terry Jordan was offering a lifetime of free counseling service to the four youngsters to help them work through their trauma.

Brenda Rappaport and Heather Evans were waiting for word about Thursday’s private court hearing to make certain the children’s placement is proceeding as hoped.

Rebecca Toole was in contact with the orphans’ new court-appointed attorneys, reminding them that she could be counted on in case of emergencies.

Amanda Jiggins was lining up a truck so that today she can pick up desks that friends have donated for the children to use in their new bedrooms.

Gavin Glynn was hunting for a van that will accommodate his whole family. He also was making plans for a memorial for Katherine Lee that will help bring some closure to her children.

“These kids are so genuine and kind. They’re very caring to my son--they’re already treating him like a little brother,” Glynn said. “I lucked out.”

No, four orphans lucked out.