Despite Suffering Abuse As A Child, CWU Student Raises Siblings and Graduates

"I have lived in a home we didn't know if we were ever really safe," Adams tells Action News.

She adds, "There were days where I woke up to screaming and she would take a machete to the wall."

"I was shy and I didn't trust anybody," says Kaya Tahmalwash, 10.

Adams says her mother became addicted to drugs alcohol before vanishing with Autumn's two siblings and crashing their car.

"I can't imagine life without them," says Adams,

But what would happen next might inspire others.

At 18, Adams took custody of her two siblings and enrolled at Central Washington University.

Adams says, "I finished my first quarter here with a 3.9 GPA and it was a brand new start for me"

Read this story in its entirety online at KIMA TV.