By 8:15 the two were sitting outside the DCF offices in Shane’s jeep waiting. Carmen grabbed the other girl’s hand and could feel how clammy they were.

Soon enough a middle-aged woman with brown hair walked up to the building and unlocked the door.

“Okay let’s go.” Shane said as she grabbed the papers and opened the door.

“Wait, me too? I thought—”

“Yeah you too. Just come on and don’t talk too much.”

They walked in to a dark, run down waiting room lined with torn up chairs. The woman from before turned to look at them.

“Hi I’m uh Shane McCutcheon. I’m here to meet with a woman named Julie about my brother.”

The woman smiled and said, “Hi Ms. McCutcheon. I’m Julie. It’s nice to finally meet you. Come sit in my office. You’re friend can come too if you like.”

Carmen stepped forward and offered her hand. “Hi I’m Carmen.”

“Nice to meet you. Come on back, ladies.”

Shane presented all of the necessary paperwork and after it all had been reviewed, Julie looked up and smiled. “Okay, so here is how this is going to work. I’ll start the background check today and you will need to schedule a home visit for tomorrow. You need to enroll Shay in school, make sure he has his own room, and do the interview. If that all checks out than we can hopefully have Shay to you in a couple of days. You will still need a couple home visits once he is there but other than that things are looking good. Any questions?”

Shane was so overwhelmed. How was she going to get Shay his own room in twenty-four hours? A home visit–Jesus what if they don’t like the place I live—what if it isn’t clean enough or there isn’t enough space for him or something?

“Um no,” Shane answered, “Do you think we could do that interview now though? It would just be one less thing to worry about.”

“Of course, however, Carmen, I must ask you to leave.”

Carmen excused herself and told Shane she would wait outside for her.

The interview went fine, they just asked questions about who would be living at the house, if they could undergo and pass background checks, and some questions about her past experiences with kids.