[jeffg]

Would adopting a niece be a bad idea? My wife and I have three biological childeren and are considering adopting our niece who is 9 years old. She is the daughter of my wifes brother. He has a lot of personal problems and every one of his kids is really messed up. He has a son that is about to go into state custody. The 9 year old niece is the youngest in her family and my wife and I think she could be turned around and have a productive life if she gets out of the environment she is in. We have not approached her father but am sure he would give her up to us if we wanted. I'm a little concerned about adopting someone within our extended family because we would have frequent contact with her family. Are we asking for problems? Another concern I have is the impact on our childeren. We hope she is not too far gone already that she would become a negative influence on our childeren. Also I am of the opinion that if we did take her I would want full legal custody and adopt her as my own child. I wouldn't want the biological parents to have any custody rights. Anyone out there have experience with this type of situation? Any advice would be appreciated.