So you can't bring your kids to Shadowfoot Sanctum, huh... Now what?

Seems I've found out the hard way.

For the record, I'm playing the Anniversary Edition on Switch.

I ran into Sophie whilst doing Thieves' Guild things in Windhelm, and decided to adopt her on the spot and send her to my cozy little house in the Ratway.

I finish my errands (read: stealing more stuff, killing Mercer Frey, going shopping for Dwarven metal to turn into bows, waiting for literally like three weeks in front of Belethor's stupid face to make him buy all my Dwarven Bows...y'know, basic stuff. This is important.)

Finally return home, figuring she'll be there waiting for me, aaaaaaand nothing. No Sophie.

I immediately smell a bug and go googling. Turns out, kids won't move into Shadowfoot. This is disappointing enough as it is, but it's also troubling because now I don't even know where she is so I can send her to another house when I have one.

Returning to a pre-Sofie save isn't really an option now either, because of all the quest shit I've done. I'd have to undo literally half the Thieves' Guild questline and several levels' worth of skill ups. Lesson learned: when you adopt a kid, meet them at home immediately.

So now I'm left to wonder... where would Sophie be in the meantime? I haven't seen her around Riften, and I looked for her around Windhelm and didn't find her. Will she magically appear in whatever new home I purchase? Is she chilling in some specific spot? Or should I just accept that she has vanished from my game and my thief will simply have to live a sad, Sofie-less life?