FAQs
How did the Heart Gallery begin?
In 2001, the idea for the Heart Gallery project started as a means to raise awareness about adoption and find homes for older children and sibling groups in protective custody with the New Mexico Children, Youth & Families Department (CYFD).
The project was implemented by CYFD recruiter Diane Granito when she was hired as a grassroots worker for Santa Fe and eight other New Mexico counties. She developed the idea from photographer (and adoptive mother) Cathy Maier Callanan to have talented photographers create inspiring portraits of older children and sibling groups who were waiting for adoption.
The Heart Gallery of Ottawa is a first for Canada. The project is being piloted by the Adoption Council of Canada (ACC) and the Children’s Aid Society of Ottawa. Planning started in 2009 and the first gallery is set to launch in the Spring of 2010. We hope that this is the first of many Heart Galleries across Canada!
A special thanks goes out to the Heart Gallery of America for inspiring us to use this unique method of recruitment. We owe it to all children and youth in care to use every possible effort to secure their permanent, and forever, family.
How do you choose which children & youth to feature?
- The court has determined that adoption is the permanent plan and/or the child is legally freed. There is no relative available for placement for the child.
- The child cannot be placed with his/her siblings in their existing placement(s).
- The current resource family does not want or is unable to adopt the child.
- There is no approved or waiting family/kin that is available to adopt the child.
- The youth is consenting to have his/her profile exhibited for the purposes of adoption.
Are children & youth involved in the portrait selection process?
All children/youth who are waiting for adoption work very closely with an adoption worker who helps prepare the child/youth for the various recruitment experiences they will undertake together. This is beneficial in that the child/youth who is actively involved in the process are typically more confident and ready for the notion of moving on to adoption.
What are children told about the project and how do you get them involved in a positive way?
We share with them the information that we already have on the process from the USA, show them typical photos and how an event is planned and getting them involved in choosing a venue, how the photos should be arranged/placed, getting them to vet the biography, add their own personal touches (depending on the child/youth capacity).
Will the child & youth worker consider a family from outside of his/her region?
This is very dependant on the type of child/youth we have, what kinds of access he/she will have with family/friends/kin, desire to move away.
