I Was 29 and Single When I Fought to Keep Five Siblings Together. The Judge Asked Why, and My Answer Changed Everything.

‘What if only three grow?’ he asked.

‘Then we take care of the three, and we can try again with the others.’

He pressed his palm lightly into the soil.

‘Okay,’ he said, and we kept planting.

PART 20

The final adoption hearing came only after a long period of supervised care, legal reviews, and all the required consents and findings.

By then the children had lived through more than one birthday in my house.

They had moved from sleeping with the hallway light blazing to arguing over which storybook we should read.