I went from being a successful career woman with no kids, to having three with problems. Truly only two are problematic, but I’m at a loss with them. My guy and his ex adopted a sibling group of three drug babies. What’s known about them is that by 28, their bio mom had 14 kids, all taken by the state. The kids are almost exactly a year apart (12, 13, 14) and they all have different bio dads. Two of the bio dads are dead, and the third is in prison.  The oldest is a psychopath. He throws screaming, cussing fits at the slightest provocation.  He hates everyone at school, all his teachers, his parents...everyone. He prides himself on being a jerk, says openly that he’s smarter than everyone else, and this justifies how awful he is to everyone. The only “people” he likes are his online friends.  The youngest, a girl, is the laziest, most self-centered person I’ve ever met.  She doesn’t even bother to be manipulative, just demanding. She’s hateful and rude, a “mean girl” at school, with no friends outside of school. As bad as I feel about calling a 12-year old a bitch, I can’t think of another word for her. When the oldest deigns to speak to her, they gang up on the middle one. He has problems, but they’re comparatively minor, and at least he’s sweet natured. Their parents are completely overwhelmed. Their mom says outright that she can’t handle them, and ever since the oldest made a false CPS complaint against his dad, dad’s afraid to discipline him. So they just run amuck. Everyone is just waiting for them to turn 18 and be gone.  They lie about me, and she eggs them on. They tell their mom I say and do things I don’t, and she reacts without verifying, even though she knows what they are. It’s constant turmoil; his ex basically runs our house, via the kids. There’s no point in ever making plans, because she WILL screw them up.  Five years in, I’m asking if love is really worth this. He warned me. He took a long time to introduce me, because he said he was afraid they’d scare me away. Naively, I said that wasn’t possible. We’re another six years (minimum) away from freedom.