The Fishburns adopted Amira Zapata

Now that I have lived in Latin America for a while, I can understand how this happens.

Every adult here wants a child to take care of, If they don't have any children of their own, they take care of someone else's, there are plenty of children to go around.

This works the other way also, children (and their families) are on the lookout for adults who will take care of them better than they can.

This is probably what happened in Amira's case. Her mother let the Fishburns take care of her. Amira didn't have an education, but she didn't need one, because she had herself, an attractive young woman. She also knew English.

As part of the Fishburn family, she had many of the advantages of being an American, including access to American young men.