Judge Harper sat behind a high oak bench, reviewing a thick stack of manila files.

“Docket number four twelve,” the clerk announced from a desk below the bench.

“Regarding the permanent placement of Hannah.”

Rachel stood up and walked through the swinging wooden gate.

She stopped at a long table facing the judge, and I took the empty wooden chair on her right.

Judge Harper looked over his silver reading glasses at Rachel.

“You’re a single applicant working night shifts at St.

Anne Medical Center,” he said.