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My husband and I have never thought about adopting an older child. Eight of our foster kids were five and under, and then we had two brothers, and eight-year-old with Down syndrome and his twelve-year-old brother. My interest has always been in the younger kids.Then today, I went to the Heart Gallery show in Colorado Springs and fell in love with a sixteen-year-old girl.
That is what the Heart Gallery is supposed to do. Show you, through intimate photographs, the inner souls of these lost-in-the-system foster-adopt children.
There were forty-eight photos. Most of the children were shown by themselves, but there were also a few sibling groups that were adoptable. Out of forty-eight photos, twenty-two of them had ribbons depicting adoption was pending or final. That is the Heart Gallery success. Regular people, like you and me, some previously adoptive parents, others not, who somehow wander into a Heart Gallery and fall in love with these portraits of children just being themselves.
The kids wrote (or dictated) descriptions of themselves and what type of family they were looking for.
“I want to grow up to be a veterinarian and would like a family to help me with homework.”
“My interests include football and sports and I also like to snow-board. I’d like an active family.”
and
“I want a forever family that will love me until I go live with my birth-mom when I turn eighteen.”
and
“I want a mom to push me on the swing.”
And so that’s how I fell in love with the sixteen-year-old Michelle who wants a family to love and to help her realize her dream of being a sign language instructor.
There was just something about her sitting so quietly on the mountain rock that reminded me of me. Not only did we have a name in common, but I felt a bigger connection to something else too, a dream, hope for the future, a belief in herself that I’ve always had.
Will I adopt again? I don’t know. But the Heart Gallery opened up possibilities of children I’d never considered.
Stay Tuned:
Over the next weeks and months I’ll be interviewing some of the kids who have their photos displayed in the gallery and what that has done for their lives.
The Heart Gallery is presently showing in Colorado Springs at the Focus on the Family Welcome Center. It moves to Denver March 1st.
Details reprinted with permission of DHS Denver and Focus on the Family:
National Heart Gallery Exhibit Displayed at Focus on the Family Welcome Center in February
Local Nonprofit Confirmed as only Colorado Springs Location on State Tour
Colorado Springs, Colo. – Beginning February 1, Focus on the Family will demonstrate its passion for and commitment to America’s foster children by participating in Colorado’s first annual Heart Gallery. The national Heart Gallery exhibit, located at the Focus on the Family Welcome Center, raises adoption awareness by displaying unique photos of approximately 50 foster children taken by professional photographers. Focus on the Family is the only Colorado Springs exhibit on the state tour, and will host the exhibit through February 25th.
The national Heart Gallery began in 2001 in New Mexico as a unique way to feature the personality and individuality of foster children through the use of nontraditional photography while raising adoption awareness within the community. In the past five years, the idea has spread nationwide due to coverage in broadcast and print media such as ABC’s World News Tonight. Each photograph contains information on how to adopt the child or children in the photo.“We are privileged to host this event in our Welcome Center,” says Focus on the Family’s Hospitality Specialist Diane Ingolia. “The photos featured in the Heart Gallery are beautiful and capture the unique personality and spirit of each child. As an organization dedicated to nurturing and defending families worldwide, it is a special honor to aid in increasing adoption awareness right in our own community.”
The Welcome Center is one of the top five attractions in Colorado Springs according to the Colorado Springs Convention and Visitors Bureau and voted “Best of the Springs 2005” by the Colorado Springs Gazette. The Welcome Center is located on the corner of Briargate Parkway and Explorer Drive. For more information about visiting the Focus on the Family Welcome Center, call 1-800-A-FAMILY or 719-531-3400.
Hi Michelle,
I know this is an older blog, but I’m a new reader and usually like to read in sequence.
I’ve seen some newsclips of the Heart Galleries, and I totally agree with your sentiments. As an older perspective new adoptive mom (42 now), I’ve been thinking more in the line of adopting a sibling group from foster care.
Kris