Clara looked down at the bedspread.

“I can do more once I’m home.”

“I believe you want to,” the social worker said.

“We need a plan that works if you’re tired or sick, too.”

“I don’t want someone thinking I don’t love them.”

“The concern is that the children needed help and there wasn’t an adult able to provide it.

Let’s work on what prevents that from happening again.”

She did not promise that no safeguarding questions existed.