Pat Romeo and "Sunshine" Morrison have worked in human services for many years. Romeo helped people with disabilities find employment, while Morrison managed a group home.

To them, taking care of people is second nature. Unlike most people in their field, however, Romeo and Morrison now take their work home.

After Romeo did a stint with a shared living organization in Massachusetts, she decided she would be a good candidate for the program. Three years ago, with the help of MENTOR Shared Living, Michelle Brown came to live with Romeo and Morrison in their home on the Johnston/Providence line.

"All my life I always wanted a sister - she's like the sister I never had. She's the best thing that ever happened to me," she said, explaining she felt an "instant connection" with Michelle.

Walking into the kitchen moments later, 32-year-old Michelle agrees, listing all of the things she's learned from her new family, like cooking and patience.

"They're really good people. Sometimes we laugh and we goof around," she said. "I didn't like living in a group home."

Now that she's living with Romeo and Morrison, Brown has come out of her shell; she enjoys spending Friday nights at the club Mardi Gras in Cranston and goes on excursions to places like Six Flags thanks to MENTOR's "options" program.

"It allows the individual to identify people who can take her out and do things. She chooses, though," said MENTOR Program Recruiter Shaelyn Crooks.

Some of the approved individuals - who spend six or more hours a week with Brown - are members of Morrison's family, which she says just shows how much a part of her life Brown is.

"We don't want her to miss opportunities because of the things we don't enjoy anymore," she said.

Shared living is similar to foster care, but takes adults with developmental disabilities out of group homes or their biological family's home and puts them in the home of individuals who feel equipped to care for the "peep," as the care recipients are known.

The term "peep" was chosen by the MENTOR program because words like "patient," "resident" and "client" all felt too clinical for the organization.

Romeo and Morrison's first experience with shared living did not end with that same happily-ever-after they've found through MENTOR. Working with an organization in Massachusetts, things went smoothly for a year and a half until the man living with them started to demonstrate aggressive behaviors. After a call to the company's emergency beeper yielded a phone call one day later and a visit a full two weeks later, the pair had had enough.

With time, however, they were ready to try again.

"The reality is people who live in a home do better than people who live in group homes," said Morrison, who has seen first-hand the difference between the development of an adult in a group home environment and one who is a part of a family. "A lot of the growth and the change you see in her is due to the consistency in our approach with Michelle."

Crooks applauds the progress Morrison and Romeo have been able to make. She recalls when Brown first entered the program, she was very defensive and on the shy side. Now, she sees Brown openly socialize with participants at MENTOR events and even with her boyfriend, Mike.

"That edge is just subdued. It's just about unlearning some of these bad habits," Crooks said.

Once adults with disabilities turn 21, they are no longer under the jurisdiction of the Rhode Island Department of Children, Youth and Families and instead can be eligible for assistance through the Division of Developmental Disabilities.

The process can be a difficult one to navigate and MENTOR provides guidance on that front. They also assist in the mountain of paperwork that goes along with becoming a MENTOR family.

There is an application process that includes MENTOR sending support professionals into the home for a series of interviews, home inspections and trial meetings between the family and the adult being placed. Once placed, support staff members like Crooks visit the home once a week for the first two months and then visit at least once monthly from that point on.

"We visit the home all the time," she said. "When you sign on to this you give up a certain level of privacy."

The MENTOR Network is a national coalition of human services providers that has provided residential living opportunities to adults with developmental disabilities for almost 30 years. The Rhode Island office opened in February 2006 and has already placed 39 clients in residential homes.

"It works for a whole variety of people. You just need to be able to see the potential in someone," Crooks explained. She lists compassion and patience as important qualities for a MENTOR and said the generosity she has seen serves as a reminder of why she works for the program.

"I am truly blessed and amazed because every day in my job I get to meet wonderful people," Crooks said.

Morrison and Romeo were one of the first homes approved in the MENTOR program and recently decided to take it a step further. In October, after much discussion, Romeo, Morrison and Brown welcomed a new member into their family - 26-year-old Andy Palumbo. For Halloween, the four dressed up like the cartoon superhero family, "The Incredibles," saying they, too, are an "incredible" family.

"Our hearts are big enough that we can have someone else in our home," Romeo said.

Brown nodded in agreement, saying she wanted Andy to come live with them because after meeting him at a MENTOR event, she thought he "was good people."

Shared living serves as an alternative to group homes, a direction several states have already begun to move in. In New Hampshire, for example, a similar program has yielded significant savings for the state. They pay a tax-free living stipend, which ranges from $40 to $90 a day, to households that take in one of these adults. The stipend costs less than supporting an individual in a group home setting. Mentors also receive two-thirds of their peep's Social Security checks in order to help pay for room and board.

New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch has hailed shared living as "the most cost-effective approach." If MENTOR's growth over the past two and a half years is any indication, Rhode Island might soon follow that path.

"The state is really looking at shared living as the newest option," Crooks said.

Romeo said the money means nothing in the long run, when she knows she's provided a home for someone.

"In my case, I couldn't imagine what it's like to not have a home," she said.

She has also been more than impressed with MENTOR's approach. The organization hosts a MENTOR night once a month and also offers a monthly support group for families.

"Every gathering we have is like a family reunion," Romeo said.

In addition to the professional staff members, MENTOR coaches are available day or night; the coaches are people who have participated in the program and can offer support from the perspective of a person who has been in a similar situation.

"To me, what I believe, is you don't know how it feels until you walk in my shoes," said Romeo, who is a MENTOR coach herself.

She said she does it to try and pay back what she's been given. Four makes for the perfect family for she and Morrison, and they said they thank MENTOR every day for what they do.

"Michelle and Andy now are truly a part of our families," Morrison said as Palumbo prepared a sandwich in the kitchen and Brown whispered to Crooks about her boyfriend. "People in general need love. People need to know that other people care."