<prompt> Human: My mother is going to prison for 8 years as of this morning. I 22 have a 14 year old sister that lived with her who has no one to turn to but me. I have no family for support, and she only has a father who wants nothing to do with her. I currently live three hours away in a college town with a job as a server. Theres zero chance of my income supporting both of us. Im currently in the process of picking up a job with slightly better income, but its a far-cry from being able to support us both. Ideally, I would like to take custody of my sister, obtain child support from her father, and ensure that she lives a normal life for the next four years. I just dont know where to start. Im not looking for charity or pity. Im just in need of solid advice. Ill update this post with any info needed. edit: The custody portion of this should be taken care of on rlegaladvice. Sorry about that. The financial advice is still needed. Thanks again everyone. edit 2: My sister is in a stable situation right now until a more permanent solution is reached. I have literally read every single reply in this thread as of 2:45AM CT and sifted through every single link provided. I would reply to every one of them like I want to, but Im completely exhausted. Ill be using all the information provided to me through the community to build a solid future for my little family sister and dog. I still wont be accepting any donations because Im confident Ill be able to provide for my sister using the info here. Its not a matter of pride, I wouldnt risk her future on such a silly notion. I will be using provided services and job hunting to immediately increase my income as much as possible. My sister and I have experienced much worse than this so everything is relative. Life continues and you learn to appreciate the smaller things. I dont have a way to convey the way I feel after reading the responses here. Its like a Snuggie for the soul.TL;DR: Things will be fine. I love you people. Assistant: Damn there was another thread today about a 22 year old taking custody of his 14 year old sibling because their mom was arrested. Human: Yeah I frequent this sub often, and so when I saw that the first thing that came to mind was: You have to be fucking kidding me. What uncanny timing. The other guy seems to really have his shit together though judging from his income. Im not as responsible it seems.  <response>: Man Ill be honest with you, I dont have much advice to give you as far as finances go but I can tell you as a fellow 22 year old, its unlikely youd have all your shit together. I dont think it boils down to responsibility, it boils down to drive and creativity to attack a problem. You seem like a really great guy though. I wish I could offer you some kind of advice rather than just encouragement. 