15 years ago I found myself taking care of a 5 year old Vietnamese immigrant girl whose dad(probably not father- he thought she was 3) had run off her mother after fetching her to America. Dad was a very strong 70 year old whose only way to deal with small children was to hit and to yell. I judged him to be physically dangerous to Châu. He was strong but not fast and she would outrun him in the apartment and the yard till he called me and asked for help. I got her signed up for kindergarten and went around with him to translate at government offices. I made a point of staying with them in the daytime and taking them out to a little Chinese Takeout with tables a couple of times a week. Whenever she would do something unacceptable at the table I leaned over to her and said quietly, “Không tốt” - ‘not good.’ She never did that thing again. After a few such meals she was quite ready to go to an upscale restaurant. Châu came to look to me as a tutor for how to get along in this new society. Eventually I succeeded in reuniting her with her mother and they live at the other end of the country. Dad died of a heart attack a couple of years later while making love with yet another wife he went back to Việt Nam for. I told him when he went that he did NOT need the Viagra he insisted on as he had a weak heart.
You changed that girl’s life forever. Good for you!