Photos by Heather Walsh
After his birth in Russia
he was placed into an orphanage where he lived with more than 100 children. He
knows little about his parents. At age 11 he was adopted by an American family
and moved to New York.
He did not speak or understand the English language. The
only one he could talk to in his native tongue was a Russian barber that he stills sees regularly.
He lived with his adopted
family for three years, experiencing neglect and mistreatment. Without notice
his adopted parents placed him into foster care, first into a group home that
he says was worse than the orphanage.
At 21 he aged out of the
system. He lives on his own and works for a Dept. of Sanitation and hopes to
have a long career with the dept. and build a better life for himself.
Photographed for SalaamGarage Local-NYC "Aging Out of Foster Care" project.
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