We are pleased to welcome the 2010 North Dakota Heart Gallery to Nativity. Featuring the professional photographs of twenty-one beautiful children, the Gallery will be on display with us through the end of January.
There are approximately 1000 children in foster care in North Dakota at any given time, with about 200 of them becoming available for adoption. Ninety percent of these children are adopted by relatives or their foster families, leaving a relatively small but significant number of children waiting to find a home.
As we learned a year ago when we hosted the first “edition” of the Heart Gallery, its purpose is to help connect children in foster care who are seeking their “forever families” with those who are seeking to complete their family circles. Eight of the children featured last year did find their “forever families”, with six of those adoptions being finalized on National Adoption Day in November.
This year’s children range in age from four to sixteen, and include a trio of girls, a set of twins and four other pairs of siblings.
When visiting with Michelle Kommer, President of the North Dakota Heart Gallery, I asked whether the children were embarrassed or reluctant to have their pictures displayed. Michelle responded that they were thrilled to have such special attention focused on them. One girl shared that “this is the first time anyone wanted my picture.” The children receive a new outfit for the photo session and a digital photo album of their portraits. Some value their albums so much that they carry them wherever they go. What all of these children share is a hope that participation in this project might make a difference in their lives. Michelle and I agree that for each of these children needing a home, there is a family who needs each of them. Our hope at Nativity is that we can help find those families.
The Heart Gallery is a part of the collaborative adoption program AASK – Adults Adopting Special Kids, sponsored by Catholic Charities North Dakota (www.catholiccharitiesnd.org) and PATH ND, Inc (www.pathnd.org) under contract with the North Dakota Department of Social Services. Please contact these agencies or the Heart Gallery (www.ndheartgallery.org) for more information, “because every child deserves a home.”
