Professional Portraits of Children Waiting for Adoption
May is National Foster Care Month
Foster Parents Help Heart Gallery
Matthew
Straeb,
President, Heart Gallery of America ® Inc.
"May is designated to recognize and honor foster families.
Foster families provide a safe, stable and loving temporary
home for abused and neglected children who need time to trust,
love, and smile again.
These families do this everyday for as long as needed for
children entrusted to their care. Some children cannot return
to their birth family safely and their parental rights are
terminated by a court.
Remarkably, over 60% of foster families adopt the children
in their care once they are legally available for adoption.
Many foster families also assist agencies with adoptive family
recruitment projects to find forever adoptive families. This
includes assisting agencies in the successful Heart Gallery
recruitment projects across the US.
Foster families choose to enrich their lives and the world
by opening their homes to children who are not tied to them
by blood, but by heart. Many abused and neglected children
are taken into protective custody each year. They are often
confused and frightened. They do not need fancy gadgets or
gourmet food, but they do require a caring, stable home, whether
for a few days or a lifetime. Our foster and adoptive parents
come from all ethnic groups and income levels, are single
and married, live in the city or rural areas. The one thing
they have in common is their firm belief in the following
popular adage:
"A hundred years from now it will not matter
what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or
the kind of car I drove. But the world may be different, because
I was important in the life of a child." (excerpt
from "Within My Power" by Forest Witcraft)
One Family Makes a Difference
What is it really like to be a foster or adoptive parent?
Rita and Ernest Montoya, an older Latino couple have
provided foster care for over seventy children since
1992 and have adopted several of their foster children.
They experience the same joys and trials as any parent,
but they have the added satisfaction of knowing their
decision to take in children is going to have a positive
impact on them for the rest of their lives.
Rita Montoya puts it like this: "To me, it's like
seeing a flower that needs nourishment and then you
see it blossom. That's why it's all worth it."
She says, many times she runs into a child they have
fostered and the child still comes up to hug him. Ernie
Montoya adds: "Raising children and giving them
a chance is something we enjoy..... It is nice to know
you can make a difference in their lives."
4th
Annual California Capitol Heart Gallery Event
California Heart Galleries Celebrate Foster Care Month
Celebrations in the following counties: Kern, Los Angeles,
Orange, Placer, Riverside, Sacramento, San Diego and Bay Area
Published
05/08/2008 - Moms foster a loving home
by Matthew S. Bajko
Shoshana Phoenixx-Dawn, center, shares a laugh
with Isaac and Isaiah. Photo: Jane Philomen Cleland
Inside the Oakland flatlands home of Shoshana
and Nann Phoenixx-Dawn, a cacophony of sound greets a visitor
on a recent weekday evening. Two dogs bark enthusiastically
as two boys race around the family living room with pinwheels
in hand. "Baba's on the phone. We have to laugh quietly,"
Shoshana gently prods her young charges so her partner can
wrap up her conversation.more...>>
Tucson, Arizona - 2008 Blue Ribbon Heart Gallery
Celebration Saturday May 31, 2008 - 4:00pm -7:00pm more
>>
Heart Gallery Opening
April 10, 2008
Northeast Louisiana - Second Heart Gallery of
- April 10, 2008 more
>>
Jorianne and Jalessa
New Mexico's 8th Annual Adoption Express
Date: Sunday, June 8, 2008
Goal: Provide approved adoptive families the opportunity
to meet children who need adoptive homes in a relaxed
environment...more
>>
"The unspoken prayers in the hearts of
all the waiting children are powering this movement (Heart
Gallery) ... a spirit of hope that is alive and making
its presence known to help them, to speak for them, to create
a miracle of change. It's amazing to see something greater
than ourselves at work."
Tony D'Agostino, Designer,
Heart Gallery Supporter,
New Mexico
The Heart Galleries across the US provide public outreach
and exposure through professional photography for individual children
who need the love of a family through adoption. As a direct result,
families are recruited for the children waiting for permanent homes.
The professional photographs personalize the selection process for
parents in a way that a description alone never could!
Who Can Help
Professional photographers, child placing agencies,
concerned citizens, business people, state agencies and others concerned
about child adoption issues have stepped up to meet the need and
present children waiting for adoption with dignity in artistic fine
art portraits.
These beautiful portraits capture the children's individuality,
their smile and spirit. The portraits are framed and displayed throughout
the community in different venues. Adoption premieres, galas, and
expos are organized where hundreds of families come to learn about
adoption and view the children's portraits.
Many of the Heart Gallery children have been placed
with loving adoptive families and many other children have been
placed due to the adoption awareness that is spread throughout the
community through Heart Gallery events.
Matthew
Straeb, 
4th
Annual California Capitol Heart Gallery Event 
Published
05/08/2008 - Moms foster a loving home 
