Help me bring my nieces home

Hi. My name is Sarah Ward. I have an emergency I need help with. I live in Laporte, IN, but Friday I was called by child protective services of Florida in regards to my two nieces. My brother has been arrested, their dad's girlfriend doesn't want to take care of them, their biological mother is nowhere to be found and they are needing emergency guardianship from me to save them from the foster care system. A little back story, I love these girls like they are my own children. I, with the help of my husband and mom, raised these two girls for the first 5 years of their life. Only after my brother took off with them to Florida after meeting a random girl on the internet did they leave my care. We have tried so hard to get these girls back with us where they would have stability and unconditional love, but with no success.

Long story short, I hopped on the next flight out of Chicago to Tampa and grabbed them from my other brother who picked them up for me. I was able to get a hotel for a week thanks to my mother in law and first thing yesterday morning I filed for emergency custody so I can leave this wretched state ( no offense FL, I just hate your weather) and bring them home to Indiana. I have a job and kids of my own to get to as soon as I can. However, we hit a snag and because their biological mother has to be notified and given a chance to object ( she has not seen the girls in over 4 years, she's a raging meth addict and her whereabouts are unknown, last I heard she's hiding out from the law and her 5 current warrants.) the court denied my request for emergency custody to give her 4 weeks to be found and respond. Child protective services have other avenues we are now trying to go down to get them temporarily released to me because it's not logical for me to stay here over a month, but in the case that I will need to I need help sustaining this and keeping the girls with a roof over our heads, safe and fed. In the chance that after having my brother signing all his rights to me, which he is willing to do because he also doesn't want them to go to foster care, and a judge allowing me to take them home, they are coming with literally nothing. They weren't even allowed to leave their house with anything but 2 small backpacks half full each with filthy clothes most of which were two or three sizes too small. I had to buy them clothes just to get them by while I am here. Getting around has been a night.are because I cannot rent a car without a credit card which we do not have so ubering and lifting everywhere we go has been not only taxing but expensive. I have so much legal stuff I need to be able to get done. To show how much these things cost here's a breakdown of the cost just to file paperwork for custody: it's was $10.00 just to receive the paperwork to fill out. It was $475.00 to file the paperwork. And then it was $40.00 to serve my brother in jail that was across the street from the courthouse. This is just the tip of the iceberg of what legally needs to happen and it cost money to get all these things done. My family has helped me out so much. I have broken our bank and my mother in law's bank to fund me getting down here and being here.

I promised to protect these children and I will not leave this state without them. They have suffered so much at the hands of their neglectful parents. Their parents have made terrible decisions in regards of these babies their entire life. They have various substance abuse issues, are in and out of jail and lack the fundamental skills to take care of them. If any of you can help me get these girls not only home, but also under our care permanently (because the legal stuff doesn't end here in Florida, we have to file for full custody in the state of Indiana too) I'd appreciate it. I cannot properly say thank you to everyone who has stepped up and helped us. My friends and family are amazing human beings. Thank you.