Social workers are taking the kids, Ford told his brother, Ron Ford Jr.

Wake County social workers had finally lost patience with Dwayne and Georgia Ford, Sean's parents. Rodents roamed their house; the two fought in front of their children. That December, Sean arrived at day care shivering, chilled from another night without heat.

Ron Ford Jr. and his wife, Lee Anne, picked up Sean and his two older siblings. They agreed to keep the children until Dwayne and Georgia Ford got their act together.

A weekend turned into seven months. The children's chances of going home dimmed when social workers learned that two of them had been molested by their father. Dwayne Ford was later convicted of abusing his children.

By 2003, the Fords found themselves caring for six children -- three of their own and the three additions. Wake County Human Services offered little financial help, save a gift certificate to buy the children winter clothes.

In North Carolina, relatives who take in children removed from their parents can receive only a fraction of the financial help offered to strangers called upon to take in the children. By law, the Fords could have received about $200 a month for the three children, compared with more than $1,200 each month collected by the Paddocks.

The Fords say they were never offered even the monthly $200. Wake County officials declined to comment, saying they are constrained because of a pending civil lawsuit.

The Fords say they eventually wiped through their savings account. By spring 2003, they were feeding the children peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for practically every meal. They worried they were cheating their own children and not doing well by their niece and nephews.

They asked social workers to take the children until they could get back on their feet. Ron Ford was laid off two months later; they also lost their home.

Ford said social workers quit communicating with them after they turned the children back over. They regret ever letting them go.

"We blame ourselves," Ron Ford said. "We feel like we should have just kept our mouths shut and kept them."