So the kids were living safely with their aunt, who was represented by a lawyer who (it sounds like) was involved in the fight to keep the family together. Two African-American women, clearly working in the kids' best interests, one of them a lawyer, the other one an immediate family member. Yet custody was given to two strangers, recent college graduates working in retail, who had already demonstrated (had anyone cared to look) that they were not emotionally intelligent enough yet to handle teenagers. And who also happened to be white.
This should spark massive adoption reform. It should. But it's going to be uphill all the way.