Cover Story
gAlA
Story by Bailey Hemphill. Photos by Bill Sitzmann
Rosey Higgs, left, with Akeeme Halliburton.
Project Everlast A Helping Hand in the Transition from Foster Child to Successful Adult
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he first time Akeeme Halliburton was placed in foster care, he was in middle school. His infant brother had been born with drugs in his system, so he and his siblings were removed from their mother’s care and taken into protective custody until alternate care was found. He and his younger brother jumped between foster homes for a few years before they were allowed to return home. But when Halliburton was attending Central High
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School, his mom became physically abusive, so he called Child Protective Services, who placed him and his siblings back into the system. “There were good memories and also some bad,” Halliburton, now 20, says of his years in foster care. “When I was younger, I was more of a rebel. I didn’t know why I was in foster care, and I just wanted to go home. When I was older, I just wanted to make a good impression so >> GALA 2013 • may/june 127