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The Traveling Heart Gallery of the Mid-Hudson Valley, a portrait exhibit to raise awareness about children available for adoption, will be unveiled in Dutchess County at a grand opening reception Friday, Oct. 28 beginning at 3 p.m. at the Poughkeepsie Galleria. The exhibit will remain on display there through Oct. 30.
The exhibit is being presented by the local departments of social services of Dutchess, Westchester, Rockland and Orange counties with the NYS Office of Children and Family Services. Portraits of children waiting to be adopted are by Suzanne Turco of Rockland County.
November is National Adoption Month with National Adoption Day on Nov. 19. Statewide, approximately 6,035 children are available for adoption and in need of adoptive families. http://www.ocfs.state.ny.us/adopt
The theme for this year's National Adoption Day is "Answering the Call". Prospective parents need to realize that they "don't have to be perfect to be a perfect parent."
On Nov. 1, the Adoption Exchange Association and the Collaboration to AdoptUsKids, DHHS and the Ad Council with the support of several national adoption partners will open the first National Heart Gallery exhibit. Portraits of waiting children from around the country will be displayed. Created by renowned photographers, the artistic portraits feature children currently in foster care who are available for adoption.
The Heart Gallery was founded by the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department in 2001 as a unique way to help children in foster care who are waiting for adoptive families step from the shadows into the light. Stirring portraits, which reveal the children's amazing spirits and individuality, have helped many find permanent, loving homes.
The portraits will be on display in Union Station's West Hall, as well as The Russell Senate Office Building Rotunda. This special exhibit will help get the message out about the 118,000 children currently waiting for a home in the U.S.
The Traveling Heart Gallery will be on exhibit in Westchester County at the Westchester Arts Council, 31 Mamaroneck Ave., White Plains, from Nov. 1 through 5 with the opening ceremony Nov. 1 at noon. The exhibit will move to Rockland County to the Garnerville Arts and Industrial Center in Garnerville Nov. 7-13. The opening reception will be Nov. 7 at 5:30 p.m.
In Orange County, the exhibit will be on display Nov. 14-18 at the Southwinds Retirement Home, 70 Fulton St., Middletown with the opening reception Nov. 14 at 4 p.m.
National Adoption Day is a collective national effort to raise awareness of the 118,000 children nationally in foster care waiting to find permanent, loving families. Now in its sixth year, National Adoption Day has made the dreams of thousands of children come true by working with courts, judges, attorneys, and advocates to finalize adoptions into permanent, loving families and to celebrate adoption.
According to the Administration for Children and Families, approximately 300,000 children in the United States enter the foster care system each year. While about 60% of these children will return to their parents, the other 40% remain in the system. Currently there are 523,000 children in the foster care system in the United States. Of these almost 118,000 are waiting for an adoptive family. Furthermore, approximately 19,000 "age out" of the system each year without ever being adopted. The majority of children in foster care tend to be minorities. Of the children waiting, 13% are Hispanic and 42% are African American. 10-25-05
© 2005 North
Country Gazette
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