County Hosts Heart Gallery to Promote Adoption Awareness

Department of Family Services
12011 Government Center Parkway, Suite 500
Fairfax, VA 22035-1102
703-324-7758, TTY 703-222-9452, Fax 703-222-9487
DFSPIO@fairfaxcounty.gov
www.fairfaxcounty.gov

For Immediate Release-November 10, 2005

A special exhibit will greet visitors to the Fairfax County Government Center on November 21, the day the county’s Board of Supervisors proclaim November as “Adoption Awareness Month” in the county.

A photo panel from the National Heart Gallery Exhibit, which has been on display in Washington D.C.’s Union Station since early November, is being brought to Fairfax for two weeks in recognition of the county’s efforts to find adoptive families for children in its foster care and adoption program.

From November 21 – 23, the Heart Gallery panel will be on display at the county’s Government Center at 12000 Government Center Parkway in Fairfax. The following week, November 28 – December 2, it will be displayed in the main lobby of the county’s Human Services Building, also known as the Pennino Building, at 12011 Government Center Parkway, across the street from the Government Center.

The Heart Gallery, sponsored by the Freddie Mac Foundation, features beautiful, professionally photographed portraits of some of the children in foster care throughout the region who are waiting to be adopted. Two young people from Fairfax County, Roosevelt and Dominique, are among those featured in this year’s Heart Gallery. The two boys’ photos have also been displayed this month in the Capitol Hill offices of local congressmen Tom Davis and Jim Moran.

The Heart Gallery began in 2001 in New Mexico as a way to recruit adoptive families for children in foster care. Heart Galleries are now on display in 34 states throughout the country. This is the first year the Heart Gallery has come to the Washington D.C. area and is the first time Fairfax County children have participated.

This public approach to recruit adoptive families parallels the county’s Kidsave Fairfax Weekend Miracles initiative, launched by the Department of Family Services and the nonprofit organization, Kidsave. The goal is to engage an entire community in the search for families for children who need them.

In addition to adopting, there are other ways to help these children find families. Individuals or families can host a child for weekend visits to introduce him or her to their community of friends and extended family, or become a child’s mentor or advocate. The intention is to engage the community in spreading the word that there are children in the local community who need families.

The clock is ticking for these kids. Every year, about 20 young people leave the county’s foster care system with no permanent family to support them. The older the children get, the less likely it is that they will be adopted.

The Heart Gallery photos tell something about the inner strength and spirit of the children. Roosevelt is warm and friendly, with a good sense of humor and an easy smile. Dominique likes to make people laugh and loves listening to music. Both young men, and many others like them, need the community’s help to find them the loving, permanent families they long to have and desperately need.

 

To learn more about adopting a child through the county’s foster care and adoption program, call: 703-324-7639 (TTY: 703-222-9452). www.fairfaxcounty.gov/dfs

 

To learn more about Kidsave Fairfax Weekend Miracles, call: 703–683-KIDS
(703-683-5437); TTY: 711. www.kidsave.org

[Note to the news media: photos of Roosevelt and Dominique are available upon request.]

 

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Reasonable accommodations will be provided upon request.
Call Beverly Howard at 703-324-7518; TTY 703-222-9452 for accommodations.
To request this information in an alternate format,
call 703-324-5870; TTY 703-222-9452.