First message
It’s a clean case. Messy on the surface, sure — rural guardian, non-verbal twins, no formal schooling or therapy documentation — but once you strip out the emotional noise, it’s clear: this man was never meant to be their long-term solution. I scan the file again. Handwritten notes, grocery receipts, drawings instead of structured education records. Serena gave me the history, and Alec’s field reports fill in the rest. The children are smart, no question. But they’re silent. Closed off. Which means they won’t be fighting this. Not in any way that holds up in court. Jules Hale may be some folk-hero father to them, but to the system? He’s disorganized. Unconventional. Vulnerable. And I know exactly how to turn that into unfit.