Because I was already caring for Rhys through his recovery, CPS hesitated at first to place Mira with me — the family tangle was complicated, and they are careful people, and I was grateful for their care even as it ached.

But after the home visits, the background checks, and a caseworker’s recommendation I will be thankful for as long as I live, the judge granted me temporary kinship guardianship of my niece.

That evening Mira came to my house carrying her purple backpack, and stood in the entryway holding the straps in both fists, the way you hold onto something on a boat.

I want to say a word about the people in that system, because it would be easy, in a story like this, to make them obstacles — the CPS workers who hesitated, the checks and evaluations that stood between a frightened child and the aunt who loved her.

They were not obstacles.

They were careful, and their care was the whole point.