This is a difficult–but valuable–book. It is a story of trauma and heartbreak and abuse. It is a story of missed opportunities and mismanaged responsibilities that had long-reaching and fatal consequences.

Jennifer and Sarah Hart were a white LGBTQ couple who adopted two groups of African-American or mixed-race siblings from Texas. Each adoption was a group of three children. Red flags followed the family from Minnesota to Oregon and finally to the site of their deaths in California. Unfortunately, none of the workers, agencies, or entities involved were able to connect the warning signs from different agencies in different states in order to save the lives of all eight family members.

Roxanna Asgarian’s reporting is thorough and impressive. There are numerous news stories online detailing the tragedy, but what Asgarian does in WE WERE ONCE A FAMILY, is give a voice to the individuals so often left out of the narrative in foster care and adoption: that of the mothers who birthed children they love, the family members who stepped up and tried to step in, of siblings who also spent time in foster care and juvenile justice facilities.

We can’t know the full story behind the murder of six children and the suicides of two adults. We can only look back on the pieces left behind and wonder why or what if. Answers to either question are moot points, of course, but they might also be opportunities to spark much-needed action and meaningful change.