Feb 16, 2008 8:41 pm US/Eastern
Portraits Of Children Wishing A Home
MIAMI (CBS4) ―
The Miami Heart Gallery is a museum quality traveling exhibit featuring portraits of children that are available for adoption and photographed by some of the world's top photographers. Biographies of the children accompany each photograph to give viewers a glimpse of their inner spirit.
"The Children's Trust" spearheads the gallery as an initiative promoting adoption in Miami-Dade County.
"I know a lot of people feel like they want to take an infant into their home and we have so many beautiful, wonderful children available for adoption who aren't infants but can offer you a lifetime full of happiness," Rachel Fasciani of Our Kids Of Miami-Dade/Monroe. Inc., told CBS4's Jade Alexander.
Based on a national model of other Heart Galleries in cities across the United States, the Miami Heart Gallery will capture the unique personality of more than 70 children through portraits taken at some of Miami's most spectacular locations.
One photo shoot took place on Saturday, Feb. 16th and another will take place the 23rd at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden.
Many of the participating photographers are award-winning professionals who have worked for top magazines.
On Saturday, Nigel Barker flew down from New York to participate. He's known as one of the judges and celebrity photographers on, "America's Next Top Model" with super model Tyra Banks.
The Miami Heart Gallery exhibit will launch in June and will subsequently travel throughout Miami-Dade County.
According to the state of Florida, more than 2,750 foster children are eligible for adoption in Florida and more than 500 in Miami-Dade, most of whom have been removed from their biological parents because of abuse or neglect.
"They've been rejected so many times. a lot of these kids get bumped around from foster home to foster home and they live with a suitcase just a couple of feet away," said Emily Cardenas of The Children's Trust. "They have the potential to be anything and anybody with just a little bit of love and attention and care these kids could thrive and I know there are parents out there for all these children."
On average, 41% of those waiting for adoption in Florida remain on waiting lists for two years and 22% have been waiting for up to three years and 37% wait longer than three years.
The Miami Heart Gallery will be complemented by a comprehensive Web site that will highlight the portraits; an audio recording of each child containing information about themselves and why he or she would like to find a good home; as well as a video of the making of the Miami Heart Gallery.
Anyone interested in learning more about adopting a foster child should call The Children's Trust Helpline at 211 or click here.
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