Feb. 14, 2008

Additional Media Contact: Regina Funkhouser, MI Heart Gallery Coordinator,(800) 589-6273

This Valentine's Day consider giving your heart to a child who is waiting and hoping for a permanent family to call his or her own.

Many of us take being part of a family for granted. A family provides the simplest comforts like having someone who cares where you are and asks, "How was your day?"

Unfortunately, more than 4,000 Michigan children do not have families and are waiting to be adopted. Many of these children are among the hardest to place in adoptive homes-children who are older, members of minorities and/or sibling groups, have medical issues, or need special help.

Some of these children are featured in a heart-warming photographic touring exhibit called the Michigan Heart Gallery. Today, the Michigan Heart Gallery kicked off its 2008 exhibit at the Lansing Capitol Rotunda. This year's grand opening celebration featured a multimedia presentation and several speakers, including First Gentleman Daniel G. Mulhern and Kate Hanley, Michigan Department of Human Services director of permanency division.

The Michigan Heart Gallery, a collaborative effort between the Michigan Adoption Resource Exchange, the Adoptive Family Support Network and the Michigan Department of Human Services, seeks to bring our community closer to the faces and voices of children waiting for a forever family. The Michigan Heart Gallery features portraits of Michigan's waiting children who come from various regions of the state and are representative of different races and ages. The Michigan Heart Gallery is in its third year. Throughout 2008, the exhibit will travel to various locations across the state. Most of the children featured in the Heart Gallery have been waiting a long time to find a permanent family.

"While we hope children featured in the exhibit will find families, the larger goal of the Heart Gallery is to inspire prospective parents to adopt an older child, so children do not leave the foster care system without having a lasting connection to a supportive adult," Hanley said. "We know from experience if these children are not seen, and if we do not educate the public about older children who need families, then they may be forgotten."

Some Heart Gallery children are now teenagers. Each year, about 500 Michigan children, ages 18 - 21, "age out" of the foster care system. These youths do not have a home for the holidays, family at their wedding, or a family safety net. Recruitment activities such as the Heart Gallery encourage prospective parents to adopt an older child so these children can have a vital connection to a supportive adult during adolescence and beyond.

The Heart Gallery exhibit also includes several photos of adoptive families. This year, portraits of three families who have opened their hearts and homes to children from the foster care system are featured.

The photographs in the Heart Gallery were taken by more than 40 professional photographers who donated their time, talent and resources to take portraits that help capture the spirit of children in the foster care system. The Heart Gallery allows these children to be seen in an artistic, poignant and tasteful photographic exhibit. The children thoroughly enjoyed their photo shoot experience. Some children were able to help select which portrait to feature in the Heart Gallery, while others came up with their own poses and some were given lessons in photography during the photo shoot, allowing them to become budding photographers themselves.

The Heart Gallery concept was initially founded by the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department in 2001 as a way to help foster children in protective custody who are waiting for adoptive families find the families they desire. Since 2001, the Heart Gallery has expanded to dozens of states and cities. For more information about the Michigan Heart Gallery and how you can get involved, please call (800) 589-6273 or visit the Michigan Heart Gallery Web site at www.miheart.org

For more information on adoption and foster care, go to www.michigan.gov/dhs