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"There are no unwanted children- only unfound parents"

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September 30th, 2006

MEDIA ADVISORY 
about the November Tour

HEART GALLERY OF EAST TEXAS & SOUTH EAST TEXAS  

18 Towns in 30 Days - (November is National Adoption Month)

There is a desperate need for adoptive families in North & South East Texas. The Heart Gallery is traveling from Texarkana to Port Arthur to find these families.  Without our help these children will enter adulthood without support, knowledge, relationships or opportunities they need to succeed as adults. The children are dreaming of a family.  They are all ages when they are taken from the only families they ever knew. They have no grandparents or close family friends who can take them in. They are starting over completely with only a social worker to help them. They all dream of a mom who will listen and a dad who will play games with them.  Some children dream of siblings and pets and some of the dreams are so simple- food in the pantry and a warm, dry bed.

What is a "Heart Gallery"?  The Heart Gallery is an exhibit of creative portraits of older children and sibling groups living in foster care who deeply desire and need a permanent adoptive home.  Using the power of photography, the Heart Gallery raises awareness of children in foster care who are waiting to be adopted. The Heart Gallery is created by professional photographers, local businesses, and volunteers who work together to create artistic portraits of displaced children for a traveling photojournalistic style art gallery. The tour will feature 70+ East Texas foster children who want to be adopted.

Why a "Heart Gallery"? Finding someone to adopt an older child is hard. The data has shown us that a boy over age 9 has about an 80 percent chance of spending the rest of his childhood (until age 18) in foster care. Girls reach the same percentage at about 11 years old. Still, for an older child, adoption remains important.

Originating in Santa Fe, New Mexico in 2001, the Heart Gallery has had great success linking foster children with permanent families. New Mexico has been able to give out adoption licenses to 50 percent of those who inquired through their Heart Gallery, compared with licensing only 5 percent of those families who applied through other methods, according to Heart Gallery records. Oklahoma placed 29 children through its exhibit. Heart Galleries can now be found in numerous communities throughout the nation.

The Heart Gallery of North & South East Texas in partnership with the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services will highlight 70+ children from some of the 32 counties in East Texas. Jackie Hubbard, adoption Supervisor with the Department of Family & Protective Services, reports that since the Heart Gallery began last year the call volume has tripled and over 50% of the children featured in the North East Texas Heart Gallery have been placed. We have just this month added South East Texas to our tour.

Photographers the Heart Gallery?   We have had an unbelievable number of photographers participate, in fact- no photographer has turned us down. Tyler photographer & local hero Randy Phillips was the first to respond to the need. In business for 29 years, he is a member of Who's Who & the official photographer for the Women's Symphony League. 
Other photographers who have helped us are Oopsadaisy Photography of Tyler, Snap photography of Jacksonville and Marc Bailey of Longview, Alicia Clay of Mesquite, Joe Lowery Photography of Lufkin, Dana Rene of Grand Saline, Richard Muirhead of Tyler, TJC Photography & Graphics Department, Kathy Renick-Bell of Tyler, Kay Ivey of Leesburg, Two Sisters of Fort Worth, Lisa Barras of Houston and Carolyn Bourg who has completely taken care of Region 5 in South East Texas. 

Specifics: In most towns the family judges will be consummating adoptions where available and the mayors or city managers will be making proclamations to recognize this 3-hour exhibit. Visit www.EastTexasHeartGallery.com and click on "calendar" to see the exact locations for the towns. (updates will be made daily.) Child Placing Agencies such as Buckner & Bair as well as the Department of Family and Protective Services will be in attendance to answer questions.

Contact Information? There is no admission fee to the visit the Heart Gallery. Donations will be accepted. For more information about the Heart Gallery of East Texas, visit our website at www.easttexasheartgallery.com .  For more information about adoption, call 1-866-787-ADOPT.

(News media:  for more information contact Shari Pulliam, DFPS Public Information Officer,409-951-3351; or Denice Grugle, Heart Gallery Producer, 866-787-adopt.)