"A guardian is who cares for the child in place of a parent," Childermass tries to clarify. "It does not necessarily mean parental. Mostly I want to know if I should be keeping you appraised to anything related to Steven that may come up in the future, although he does seem like a fairly independent in his own right..."

But still rather young. Probably. Technically, Childermass was looking out for himself at that age already but he can't apply 'vicious little street thief' to everyone else's childhood over here okay.