the one who called 911.
By the time paramedics arrived, everything had already changed.
Then came the ambulance.
Then social workers.
By that evening, all five children were in emergency care.
Their father wasn’t involved.
There were no relatives who could—or would—take all five.
One aunt offered to take Marcus.
A family friend said she might take the baby.
Nobody had offered to take the three children in the middle.
The agency’s plan was to separate them among three different homes in three different counties.
That was the best option
