The Fosters Puts Callie In A Group Home Full Of Girls/Cautionary Examples

Only an episode and a quarter (or so) into its second episode of the season, The Fosters has already answered one of the questions the premiere sparked — specifically, how long Jude and Brandon were going to keep the secret about the illicit kiss between Brandon and Callie that made her run away. With Callie about to go back to court over her shoplifting charges, Brandon blurts out the truth about the kiss, assuming that once his moms know the reason Callie took off, they'll go speak up for her and bring her back home.

And he's half right! Lena and Stef do go to court to express their love and support for Callie, but add that they're not ready for her to come back to live with their family yet. Instead, Callie goes to a group home, Girls United, where she will, they hope, learn coping skills such that her response to her life's every setback won't be to run away. Upon her arrival, Callie meets and gets a quick life's summary from the six other girls currently living in the group home. It seems obvious that Callie is at Girls United to see how much crappier things could get for her if she doesn't straighten up, so that the other residents can serve as walking, talking cautionary tales for her. So the time seems right to make some snap judgments about Callie's new temporary sisters, and rank them from most to least ready to be integrated into society at large. (To the bottom three: hey, prove me wrong!)

Carmen

Gangs; drugs; kidnapping.
And after six months? Carmen takes the lead among the GU residents for being the only one, in her self-introduction, to express a specific ambition for the future: to wit, she wants to join the army. Given the current challenges with regard to recruiting in the armed forces, Carmen's chances are probably pretty good even with several stints in juvie and a kidnapping charge on her sheet (though maybe that all gets expunged when you turn eighteen? Or maybe that's just something I heard on Law & Order?); anyway, she's already dressing the part. Carmen seems steady and calm and stays above the fray when her fellow residents squabble, and the fact that she's already looking ahead to a career path that will require her to exercise a lot of self-discipline suggests that her time in Girls United has been productively spent.

Kiara

In Girls United due to: Vandalism; "possessing and selling drugs"; "gang stuff"; "possession of a deadly weapon."
And after two months? Despite her expression in her profile pic above, Kiara seems pretty mellow. As Callie's initial roommate and house sponsor, she offers Callie good advice about how to make her time in Girls United as painless as possible. Sure, it boils down to "go along to get along," but there's a reason that maxim has stood the test of time. From what we can tell in her initial appearance, Kiara's main problem these days is interrupting people, so things could certainly be worse.

Gabi

In Girls United due to: Home invasion; robbery; cyberbullying.
And after a month? I know this is blasphemy coming from someone who doesn't just abhor cyberbullying but watched the TV movie Cyberbully (and if you haven't, you should), but Gabi might be my favourite? I like how frank and cheerful she is reciting her crimes, and I'm dying to hear the backstory on exactly what form the aforementioned cyberbullying actually took. And while the choices she made with her computer are antisocial, the fact that she has displayed computer literacy will serve her well in today's competitive job market.

Daphne

In Girls United due to: Gang activity; drugs; armed robbery; assault.
And after six weeks? Longtime viewers of The Fosters will remember Daphne as the girl who roughed up Callie in juvie back in the pilot, and while I really like the show and generally wish good things for Callie, I think we can all agree that Callie was probably asking for it. I mean, think of all the shit she's put Stef and Lena and Jude through over the past several episodes, really for no good reason, and how much any of the girls in Girls United would give to have been in Callie's shoes for even a second: now you probably want to shiv her, right? Anyway, Daphne has shown enough sense to keep her history with Callie to herself, and a strong enough sense of self-preservation to try to smooth things over with Callie to keep them both out of trouble at Girls United — and the fact that Callie doesn't accept Daphne's olive branch shows us just how much work Callie has to do before she can take care of herself properly.

Cole

In Girls United due to: Stealing; prostitution.
And after three weeks? Second to Callie, Cole has had the shortest stint at Girls United, and thus has had the least time to get social-worked by house director Rita. But the reason Cole may still have such a big shoulder-chip is that he is not a Girl, United or otherwise, except biologically: Cole is a transboy, and though he will certainly have a better time in the Girls United environment than he would if he had to go back to juvie, he's still furious to have been placed here instead of in an LGBT group home — though Rita's working on rectifying that — and this speaks well of his future propensity to assert his rights. Cole takes an instant dislike to Callie, nitpicking her kitchen counter cleaning technique, and things don't get much better after Callie accidentally walks in on Cole in the bathroom, panics, and shoves him through a glass shower stall door. This should get Callie kicked out of the house due to a no-tolerance policy on physical violence, but snitches get stitches, so instead, Cole and Callie's punishment is to get Parent Traped into rooming together, so we'll see whether these two bitter jerks will feed each other's bitterness, or learn from each other's bad example how to chill out.

Becca

In Girls United due to: Using and selling drugs; punching a cop.
And after four weeks? Ooooooh boy. I feel for Becca and her history of being molested (or worse) by her drug-addict mother's various boyfriends, and I am concerned about her mental health. Like, maybe she's too much of a gigantic raw nerve to be in Girls United, even? Maybe she needs to be in a locked ward, being attended by full-time medical professionals who can make sure she's taking her meds? I'm not saying I wish for it, but when the last thing that happens before Callie leaves Girls United is Becca's suicide, remember that you heard it here first.