"Assets?"
"A small house," she said. "And some savings. Not huge, but meaningful. Legally, it all belongs to the children."
"To them?"
"There's one more important thing."
"To them," she confirmed. "You're listed as guardian and trustee. You can use it for their needs, but you don't own it. When they're adults, whatever is left is theirs."
I let out a breath.
"Okay," I said. "That's good."
"There's one more important thing," she said and flipped a page. "Their parents were very clear that they did not want their children separated. They wrote that if they couldn't raise them, they wanted them kept together, in the same home, with one guardian."
"Where's the house?"
"Okay."
She looked up at me. "You did exactly what they asked for. Without ever seeing this."
My eyes burned. While the system was getting ready to split them up, their parents had literally written, Don't separate our kids. They'd tried to protect them, even from that.
"Where's the house?" I asked.
She gave me the address.
It was across town.
That weekend, I loaded all four into the car.
"Can I take them to see it?" I asked.
"I think their parents would've wanted that."
***
