Vol. 11, No. 1• November 2006

Visit North Carolina's Heart Gallery

NC Kids Adoption and Foster Care Network will be hosting a Heart Gallery exhibit in November 2006 in celebration of Adoption Awareness Month. The event will be held at the Greensboro Public Library, 219 N. Church Street, between November 1–30.

This exhibit will feature striking portraits of children in North Carolina’s foster care system in need of a permanent home.

NC Kids Adoption and Foster Care Network is partnering with the art community, generous businesses, and the NC Division of Social Services to bring us this remarkable photography exhibit. Professional and amateur photographers volunteered their expertise to create visual images of the children.

The children featured in the Heart Gallery are in state care with the goal of adoption. Most have been waiting for at least one year to find a family to call their own.

The goal of the Heart Gallery is to educate the public about the well over 1,500 children in foster care in North Carolina awaiting adoption.
Since it was introduced in 2001, the Heart Gallery concept has spread nationwide, with wonderful results. After New Mexico’s first exhibit, 50% of the people who expressed interest in foster care and adoption completed the licensing process, a 5% increase from the year before. Following Connecticut’s Heart Gallery event in 2004, 19 foster children were placed in permanent homes.

In addition to being effective child-specific recruitment tools, Heart Galleries also educate communities about the role played by county departments of social services. Media coverage for these exhibits is always strong and positive.

For more information on North Carolina’s 2006 Heart Gallery or to feature a child, please call NC Kids at 1-877-625-4371.

Copyright � 2006 Jordan Institute for Families