"We went and knocked doors -- door by door -- all around at nighttime," said Bee Lor, the children's stepfather.
The worried parents talked to Action News about their fears come true, and what they're learning since the kids went missing on Saturday.
The missing children are 12-year-old Chee Nou Yang, 11-year-old Cha Meng Yang, 10-year-old Zia Yang, 8-year-old Chue Feng Yang, 7-year-old Zang Yang,6 -year-old Tria Yang, and 5-year-old Tou Ger Yang.
The seven children shared a bedroom and although there are still signs of them there, the room feels very bare to their mother and stepfather. But they tell Action News there's not much they can do but sit and wait.
Bee Lor holds tight to the clipboard of information about the disappearance of his seven stepchildren. Their beds now empty, and their dressers without clothes, the children's photographs are all that's left to hold. When they came home to an empty house Saturday evening, Lor says he and his wife thought little of it.
"We thought maybe our children might play around with the friends around here, the neighbors," he said.
But when minutes turned into hours and day turned to night, they started asking all their neighbors if they'd seen the kids. Then, the fear started to set in.
They say the children's father, Xa Yang, had turned up in December after three years of no contact. And they started to suspect he took his kids.
"We thought maybe he's probably watching and he knew we left for the store and maybe he just came over and just got them," Lor said.
Police have been searching from Fresno to Sacramento -- where they believe Xa Yang lives -- but still no signs of the kids.
Their presence is also missed at Birney Elementary School, where the oldest six children went to school until this week. Counselors visited the school Thursday to address concerns for both staff and students.
"This is something that's not typical that happens, but we want to emphasize to the children what it means to be safe and how they can be safe," said Fresno Unified school psychologist Deeds Gill.
Lor admits he and his wife left the kids alone for about seven hours Saturday, but says the older sons -- Chee and Cha -- took charge.
Police say because there's no custody agreement the father has ten days, until Tuesday, to check in with law enforcement.
