Michelle, my husband and I used to...I'm struggling for the right word here..."take in" 3 young girls, starting when they were 8, 10 and 11 or so. Mom was an alcoholic, oldest brother was in Boy's school for molesting his sisters, and he was soon followed by the other brother who was still at home (age 13 or so.)We would get all three girls every weekend we could. Their English, their clothes, their manners were non-existent. By Saturday we'd have their bodies bathed and they would be wearing the clothes we kept at OUR house. Their English would dramatically improve almost immediately. We attended church every Sunday and I spent interminable amounts of time doing 5 heads of little girl hair before going to church. We all went out to eat afterwards. And starting in the afternoon their demeanor would start to change and we had to take them back. We were "Sugar Daddies" to the mom... and they were her income because she collected Social security since their dad had died. Fast forward about 12 years now... the girls are about 20-25 or thereabouts.... and last I knew had 8 kids between them. In fact, the last I knew the youngest had just left the hospital at age 18 with her SECOND kid and was homeless, returning to her "mom's" dwelling place, wherever the heck that was. And the middle girl was riding around in the back of 18-wheeler cabs with her current boyfriend AND her babies--two of them! The only one making any kind of go of it was the oldest girl (our favorite anyway!) who was in a long term relationship (but not married) with a guy and who actually had a house. She and her "husband" actually were a somewhat stabilizing force for the other sisters. The youngest brother went to prison long term for armed robbery....but not before adding two more kids to the equation.

I wish you the best of luck!

Isn't it wonderful that you are able to look at the situation from all angles. Good for you.