Chapter 8 - THE DECISION THAT MADE ME THEIR GUARDIAN
The juvenile court suspended Reena’s guardianship temporarily.
Then, after medical evidence, home evidence, and preliminary camera review, the probate and juvenile proceedings began coordinating around permanent placement.
I petitioned to become guardian.
Not adoptive father.
Guardian.
Aaron was their father.
I wanted them to keep that truth.
My home study became intrusive quickly.
Income.
Work hours.
Bedrooms.
Criminal history.
Relationships.
Support network.
Whether I understood trauma.
Whether I intended to cut Reena out regardless of court orders.
That last question irritated me.
Then I realized it was exactly the kind of question someone should ask.
Adults convinced they are rescuers can become controlling too.
“I want whatever contact professionals believe is safe,” I answered.
At that point, it was none.
Reena was under no-contact restrictions while criminal charges proceeded.
I adjusted my contracting business.
Promoted my foreman.
Stopped taking jobs outside Franklin County.
Lost money.
Real responsibility costs something.
My parents—Drew and Lily’s grandparents—offered help.
I accepted carefully.
Not automatic childcare.
Schedules.
Specific days.
Everyone asked.
That became important in our house.
Can I?
Do you want?
Is this okay?
Tiny questions.
Children who have lived under control need to hear them.
Drew’s cast came off after several weeks, followed by a walking boot and physical therapy.
The first time he stood without support, Lily applauded like he had won an Olympic medal.
He grinned.
Then immediately looked embarrassed by the attention.
Therapy helped him slowly stop parenting her.
At dinner he still cut Lily’s food without being asked.
The therapist told me to say:
“I’ve got it.”
Not:
Stop.
So I did.
“I’ve got it, buddy.”
At first he hovered.
Then he began letting me.
That was how healing looked.
Not speeches.
A six-year-old allowing an adult to pour his sister’s milk.
My petition for permanent guardianship moved forward.
Reena contested it.
Through her attorney she maintained that she had made “serious but temporary parenting mistakes” during grief and stress.
She blamed the basement on Drew’s behavioral escalation.
She disputed starvation.
She suggested Lily’s weight loss followed food refusal.
Then her lawyer made a mistake.
He filed excerpts from the edited videos.
The dangerous-Drew clips.
That opened the door for the court to demand full context.
Detective Cole later told me:
“She thought those videos were her defense.”
They weren’t.
They were the beginning of the end.
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Because once neutral professionals watched what happened immediately before each edited clip, they stopped asking whether Drew was dangerous.
They started asking why Reena had worked so hard to make him look that way.
