Gallery goes straight to the heart for children

Beginning today, visitors entering the Dubois County Courthouse will be met by the faces of several children seeking forever homes.

Over a dozen life-size portraits of adoptable children in the state’s foster care program are on stands in the foyer of the courthouse. Each image includes an information card for a prospective parent to pick up.

These are just a few of the many children in the state seeking permanent homes.

The images are part of a traveling exhibit, the Indiana Heart Gallery. The photo gallery of adoptable children was put up in the courthouse Friday and will be on display until Friday, December 4. The display is accessible during the courthouse’s open hours, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays.

Steve Brown of Wabash County sets up the displays throughout the state. He and his wife Nilsa have fostered and adopted children for over 30 years. When he retired in 2012, he was asked to work with organizations across the state to bring the display to different communities.

“All these kid’s parents have terminated their parental rights,” Brown said. “They are seeking families. Hopefully, they will be adopted. Otherwise, when they are 18, they are emancipated and without that support network, their chance of success is slim.”

Dubois County Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) program director Deena Hubler has petitioned to bring the display to Dubois Count for a couple years. CASA volunteers work with children through the court proceedings that typically follow an intervention by the Division of Family Services.

According to Hubler, bringing awareness of the number of children in the foster care system is important. “Kids are waiting in foster care for adoption,” she said. “If we can get one child or sibling group in Indiana a forever home, that is huge.”

Anyone seeking to begin the process of adoption or would like to see the other children in the foster care program can go to http://www.in.gov/dcs/2730.htm.