Chapter 9 - WHEN LOVE HAD TO SURVIVE INSPECTION
Daniel discovered quickly that being sincere did not make professionals less skeptical.
It made them more specific.
Licensing inspections identified a stair railing that needed repair.
The older children needed revised sleeping arrangements.
Daniel’s emergency-care plan depended too heavily on Margaret, who lived too far away for some contingencies.
His vehicle could not safely transport five children plus another adult.
His work plan covered normal weeks, not influenza spreading through a house.
Rebecca Sloan questioned whether Daniel understood what maintaining sibling relationships actually required when those relationships included parentified behavior.
“Mason is functioning like a caregiver,” she said at one meeting.
“I know.”
“And you want to preserve that?”
“No. I want to preserve the relationship while teaching him he isn’t the parent.”
“Those goals can conflict.”
Daniel nodded.
“I know.”
This time he understood why Gloria had once hated the phrase.
Judith complicated the case.
She filed notice that she wanted reconsideration as a placement resource for Sophie and Caleb.
Only the two youngest.
Her attorney argued that keeping some children with biological family might be preferable to an unrelated single foster parent taking all five.
Daniel could not call that ridiculous.
Judith loved them.
She had cared for them.
She had failed under five-child pressure, not abandoned them for fun.
But Mason heard about it.
Nobody knew how.
That evening he put Sophie’s clothes into a grocery bag.
Daniel found him beside the crib.
“What are you doing?”
“She’s going Grandma’s.”
“Not tonight.”
“Soon.”
“Maybe. Nobody has decided.”
Mason kept packing.
“Grandma likes babies.”
Daniel sat beside him.
“She loves you too.”
Mason laughed.
Six years old and already able to make disbelief sound adult.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“She said I ruin everything.”
Daniel stopped.
“When?”
Mason’s face closed.
“Forget it.”
“Mason.”
“Forget it.”
Daniel did.
For the moment.
The larger problem arrived at the permanency review.
Rebecca produced a report showing Mason had told his therapist:
Daniel said nobody can split us.
The sentence made Daniel look exactly like what professionals feared.
A foster parent promising an outcome.
Rebecca asked him directly:
“Did you say that?”
Daniel wanted to explain.
Instead:
“I promised I would keep them together. Early on.”
The judge looked at him.
“That was inappropriate.”
“Yes, Your Honor.”
“You understand these children cannot carry your promises into decisions you do not control.”
“Yes.”
Mason was not in the courtroom.
Daniel was grateful.
The judge ordered further evaluation rather than immediate movement.
It was not a victory.
On the courthouse steps, Rebecca said:
“You nearly hurt your own case today.”
Daniel nodded.
“I know.”
She looked at him.
“Why are you doing this?”
Daniel almost told her.
Six years old.
Four siblings.
Three cars.
Twenty-three years.
Instead he said:
“Because I think they’re better together.”
Rebecca’s expression stayed skeptical.
May you like
Daniel had hidden his history because he feared it would make him look biased.
Now his silence was making him look inexplicably obsessed.
