NOREEN HYSLOP-nhyslop@dailystatesman.com Currently on display at Dexter's Hickory Log Restaurant is Missouri's Adoption Heart Gallery. The display, spotlighting adoptable children in Missouri, will remain in place until Friday.
A little boy named Matthew is looking only to a bright future as he extends his arms with two thumbs up.Three siblings, close in age, pose with smiles that hide any trace of what trials they have faced in their young lives.
A pensive young boy named Willie offers an apprehensive grin.
They are all faces of Missouri's Adoption Heart Gallery, and they are currently on display at Dexter's Hickory Log Restaurant for public viewing.
The Gallery is a unique way to help children who are in foster care in Missouri and are awaiting adoption. It is a portable "wall" of professional portraits that reveal the children's individuality.
The Missouri Children's Division's first adoption Heart Gallery came in 2006. Since that time, 180 of Missouri's children featured in the gallery have been placed in permanent homes.
Three family development specialists with the Resource Unit of the Missouri Children's Division have had a hand locally to bring to the forefront the need for adoptive and foster parents in Southeast Missouri. Ava Fowler, Myshena Crisel, and Angie Wheelehon.
Recently a child from the 35th circuit was found online by a Wisconsin couple viewing the Heart Gallery online. The couple made an initial contact and the procedures began that ended with the adoption of a little girl.
"There are many success stories," Crisel says. "The device has proven to be very beneficial in bringing these children to the public's eye."
You won't find newborns or rosy-cheeked toddlers on the Adoption Heart Gallery. The faces depicted are those babies who are growing up without the benefit of a family to call their own. They range in age from five and six through the teen years. Many are children of color, and many are part of a sibling group or have special needs. Most have lived in multiple out-of-home placements.
There are some rules that go along with becoming either a foster parent or an adoptive parent in Missouri.
"Children of school age, particularly those over 10 years of age, represent the largest number of children needing permanent families. Adoption of older children, say Family Services officials, may be especially appealing to parents who already have children of school age and for older prospective adoption parents.
"Experience has indicated that older children can readily become successful family members," says Crisel.
"Many have the misconception," Fowler explains, "that only a married couple is eligible to adopt. That is not the case, however."
Rather, adoptive or foster parents may be married or single, with or without children, and they may own or rent a home, an apartment, condo or other residence.
They must be at least 21 and must complete a child abuse/neglect check and criminal record check that includes fingerprinting, and they should be in good health, physically and mentally.
Rules also call for potential parents to be willing to participate in a free training and assessment process and also be willing to partner with the child's family when necessary.
"There is a real need," explains Wheelehon," for both foster and adoptive parents in Missouri. "The Adoption Heart Gallery is a really special tool that is being utilized to make the public more aware of thatneed. It has proven to be a wonderful starting point for many adults who are now successful, loving adoptive parents."
The Adoption Heart Gallery display, featuring dozens of potential adoptees, will remain on display until Friday at the Hickory Log. Anyone interested in gathering additional information regarding either foster or adoptive parenting is invited to contact Crisel, Fowler, or Wheelehon at the Bloomfield Family Services office at 573-568-2111 or the Missouri Adoptive Exchange at 1-800-554-2222. The Heart Gallery may also be viewed online 24 hours a day at MOheartgallery@adoptex.org.
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