Years in Review
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Coming up on our 2rd year, we wanted to re-introduce ourselves and our programs. We have come so far and without the continued support of our community, the generous donations and volunteers we would not be where we are today.
Wow! How far we have come in just two years when we started simply with an idea for helping children in foster care and a "Non-Profit for Dummies Book." Our concept was simple: Find loving committed Forever homes for Oregon's Foster Children.
On the eve of our 3rd Annual Event, we thought it might be nice to review the last two years with you because without your support, none of this would be possible.
2006
This journey began with the Heart Gallery in Nov. 2006 with 33 Oregon children. We were met with a warm reception and an outpouring of local community support. Shortly after our first event, our one Heart Gallery location grew to six. Our one program grew to four, Heart Gallery, Heart Gallery Mentor Program (to address the older children in foster care), Family Building (support to families), and the beginnings of our Family Finding program.
Over the course of 2006-2007, we built our web page, started a media campaign, formed a Life Book group, and grew to 12-plus Heart Gallery venues, which included our new Business Advocate venues that allowed smaller displays with digital frames and portable DVD players.
2007
In 2007 we worked with 250 children through one of our many, growing programs. We saw over 60 children move through the gallery to find their Forever families, and over 30 children were matched with mentors. We also saw the start of our Family Finding training program, and worked over a dozen initial Family Finding cases. This was also the first year of our Heart Gallery Christmas Giving program, through which we were able to provide gifts for nearly 100 local foster children.
Our media coverage expanded to include bus sides and billboards, in addition to our ongoing TV, radio and newspaper coverage. Through these programs we started by featuring one child once a month and now that has expanded to a child once a week features. This expanded coverage has contributed to an 80% placement rate.
2008
Our growth has not been static in 2008. Now we have over 20 venues for our galleries, and over 100 children have moved through the Gallery to their own Forever Families.
This year we began a relationship with Child Trends, a national research organization, to join Los Angeles and San Francisco in a research project that we believe will show with our Family Finding efforts, kids leave care sooner and are more connected to those who love them.
We have also become an adoption agency, Heart Gallery Adoption, which will allow us to recruit for more children and represent our families in a more complete way.
This fall we were granted our first recruitment contract with the State of Oregon. As a result of this contract we will partner with the state on Child-Specific Recruitment. We believe that this work will continue to be very rewarding, as this is effort is focused on recruiting for the longest-in-care and hardest-to-place foster children, which is the core of our mission.
This year was actually the first year we have reached out to funders. Until this time we have been blessed and supported solely by the kindness of our community. We were fortunate to be one of five recipients of the local Rotary Duck Race grant. The Duck Race funds are dedicated to combat child abuse and support children in our area.
This fall we moved into an office and now have eight employees; a big change from only a year ago we just had one employee and all volunteers worked from home. We also now have over 100 active volunteers, and many more that step in when needed.
We continue to believe, and invest in, our web page, video, email outreach, and data base, as they are critical to our foundation, all of which help us do our jobs more effectively and track our results. We believe we need to use technology to deliver our message to all areas of our state and beyond.
Our staff and volunteers spend a great deal of time talking to and supporting families; we have found the bridge between families and children to be a very rewarding role. For every family, there is one extraordinary child. We are also blessed to work with many extraordinary families from all over the country.
Our greatest achievements and continuing goals are to partner with other organizations, non-profits, businesses, and government agencies to build a bigger and better organization and safety net for Oregon's children.
Goals for 2009
The continued support of our families is a primary role; we hope to expand effort to connect families to the supports they need with in their communities in order for them to succeed as a family. Without the success of our families, recruiting for the children is useless.
We have also started a state-wide campaign to activate and educate other people in areas of our state to the plight of these children and how the average person, family, and business CAN make a difference. This effort is driven by a committee comprised of adoption agencies, DHS, media, CASA, Commission of Children and Families, and members from different tribes and ethnic representatives. This effort is dedicated to help reach out to the communities from which our children come, as well as any other groups that might help us spread this message. As has happened with most of our programs, we have no funding for this campaign, but believe that it is simply the right thing to do.
We are very thankful for your belief in our efforts to help find Forever Families for children. We also hope to see you on November 20th, for our annual event to celebrate our achievements together! Please come if you can.
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Adoption Agency |
A Family for Every Child Introduces:
The Heart Gallery Adoption Agency
A Family for Every Child is thrilled to announce that our recent endeavor to become an adoption agency was successful and we received our license on October 31, 2008!!! The Heart Gallery Adoption Agency will allow us to partner more effectively with the Department of Human Services to help Oregon's waiting children find their "forever families." We are so excited about this opportunity to better serve the kids waiting in foster care, and their prospective adoptive families!
Oregon's Waiting Children:
Many of Oregon's foster children are at risk of spending their entire childhood in multiple foster care placements. These are wonderful kids who need to find their "forever families." The Heart Gallery Adoption Agency specializes in finding homes for Oregon's special needs children. A child is usually considered "special needs" if they are over 6 years old, part of a sibling group, have some physical, mental or emotional disabilities, or are part of an ethnic minority. Of special concern are children who are at risk of "aging -out" of foster care. These are the hardest to place children who have been in the system the longest. Because they lack the support system that most young adults take for granted, they are at higher risk for dropping out of school, homelessness, poverty, and young parenthood. They do not have any more time to wait.
Our Unique Approach:
Heart Gallery Adoptions is different than many existing agencies because the focus is entirely on Special Needs Adoptions. In addition, the Heart Gallery Adoption Agency works in conjunction with all of the programs offered by A Family for Every Child to find "forever families" for waiting children. Our Family Finding Program might locate relatives that are enthusiastic about adopting an extended family member. Our Mentor Program might create a relationship that results in the creation of a "forever family." Our Child Specific Recruitment Program exhaustively searches for resources for each and every child referred. The Heart Gallery displays framed portraits in public areas to create community awareness. Our Family Building Program matches experienced mentor families with prospective or newly formed adoptive families in order to provide encouragement and support throughout the entire adoption process. Whatever the needs, our unique, child-centered approach creates an individualized adoption experience for the children and families we serve.
How do I become an adoptive parent? What is the process?
Why not you?
Have you ever thought of adopting a child but wondered if you were the "right" person? YOU ARE! Maybe you are worried that you don't make a lot of money? IT DOESN'T TAKE A LOT... Or that you need to own your own home? YOU DON'T! Or perhaps you are a single parent wondering if adoption can work for you? IT CAN! Maybe you live in another state and have been touched by one of Oregon's waiting children? WE'LL WORK WITH YOU!
The Process:
The process begins when prospective parents inquire about a specific child or adoption in general. This is done by completing an online Adoption Inquiry Form or by contacting the agency directly. The family can provide a copy of their completed home study or, if they do not have one yet, they can request information about how to obtain a home study. If the family is interested in Heart Gallery Adoption Agency completing their home study, an application is submitted and upon approval, Heart Gallery Adoptions will schedule an orientation. The family can then move forward with the home study process. After the family has a completed, approved home study they begin the process of child selection. When the prospective adoptive parents find a child (or children) that would fit well into their family, the homestudy is submitted to the child's social worker.
The child's social worker then selects between one and three prospective families, all of whom are able to meet the child's special needs, and these families go forward to the committee process. When a Heart Gallery family is selected as a prospective adoptive family for a specific child, Heart Gallery Adoptions will represent the family at the State of Oregon Adoption Committee. We understand that this can be an exciting, although somewhat confusing, time for prospective parents. Support and information are vital for success. We at Heart Gallery Adoptions are committed to providing the information and support necessary to help our families succeed at Special Needs Adoption.
For more information, visit us online @www.afamilyforeverychild.org or contact us at (541) 343-2856 or toll free at (877) 343-2856. We look forward to hearing from you!
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A Family For Every Child & Lane County Heart Gallery
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A FAMILY FOR EVERY CHILD IS DEDICATED TO FINDING LOVING, PERMANENT FAMILIES FOR EVERY WAITING OREGON FOSTER CHILD.
A Family For Every Child, a nonprofit organization, was started by Christy Obie-Barrett and dozens of dedicated and passionate volunteers. In 2006, AFFEC was formed and developed into an organization focused on finding permanent and loving adoptive homes for Oregon's waiting children. Our intention is to develop programs that assist special-needs/challenging-to-place foster childrenin finding their own Forever Families.
The Heart Gallery of Lane County is a portrait exhibit to raise awareness of the needs of Lane County Children; those waiting and hoping for their own adoptive family, mentor or CASA to love and protect them. Professional photographers volunteer to take compelling portraits. These beautifully framed and matted portraits are then displayed along with the children's bio in various venues. On the average we receive 50 plus inquiries per week. DHS foster/adoption orientation class size, adoption inquiries, and general applicants to DHS have more than doubled since the inception of the Heart Gallery.
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Upcoming Events |
Mark your calendar! Celebrating our 2nd year!!
November 20, 2008
Enjoy moving speakers and photos. Come help us thank our many supporters and share in our successes. Get an up close look at what makes A Family For Every Child / Heart Gallery unique and find out how you can get involved.
ALBUM PAGE MAKING EVENT
Saturday, November 22nd
from 5pm to 8pm
S.C.C.C. ~ Fireside Room
Santa Clara Church of Christ @ 2600 Belmont St - Eugene
Join in the fun and help create decorated album pages for Life Storybooks for local foster children.
NO EXPERIENCE NEEDED - JUST VOLUNTEERS!! |
Mentor Program
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The mission of the Heart Gallery Mentor Program is to bring enthusiastic, dedicated, caring members of our community and unite them with our foster care youth, age 12-21. To help instill in them the independence, confidence and everyday life skills they will need to live a productive and successful life out on their own. To create, engage and encourage everlasting, unconditional support and ever lasting bonds for the youth by providing permanency.
There are several ways that people in Lane County can get involved in changing the lives of the youth in foster care through our program. The first and most important is to join on as a mentor for a minimum of a year walking through the ups and downs of life with a youth. The second is to be a business and community support to those mentors as they engage the youth in activities outside of the home. As a business support and partner you will be assisting in changing the lives of these children by creating more opportunities for memories and bonding as the mentor youth relationship grows. A mentor is one who volunteers there time love an energy, and as a business you can volunteer financial support by opening up your business to help our mentors in doing more things outside the home that could possibly be outside their budget. The third way is to be an office volunteer. As we grow there are many jobs in communicating with youth, mentors, business partners and community resources that will increase the level of excellence of this program.
Together as a community we can make a difference in the life of a child that does not know what consistency is all about. I am excited to watch as we build a team in this community that binds together through time and resources to step out and do something for the youth around us. 60% of the homeless youth in Lane County were once in foster care. Can you imagine if those youth had at least one person to fall back on how that could make a difference.
Who can be a mentor?
Please contact Carrie for more information.
1-541-343-2856
1-877-343-2856
carrie@afamilyforeverychild.org
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Family Finding |
Family search and engagement processes have been used successfully in New York, Louisiana, California and Colorado, among other states and counties. One family finding process was developed in Catholic Community Services of Western Washington in Tacoma. Staff noticed that when a youth gained a connection with family, critical incidents reports tended to decrease. This led to the understanding that having a family connection was as urgent as the need for safety. Since then various models have been used across the United States.
Six Steps to Family Finding
1) Discovery-Mining Files; 2) Internet Search; 3) Engagement-Making Calls; 4) Planning 5) Decision Making 6) Evaluation-Follow up
Desired Outcomes
* Healthy family members found and connections established;
* Following family engagement, the lives of young people in foster care will be stabilized by moving from restrictive placements to less restrictive placements into foster or kinship homes;
* The permanency plan changes to include a permanent family resource who will make a commitment to the youth and will take on either guardianship or adoption.
The Research Program
Lane County has been asked to participate in a Child Trends' evaluation of the Family Finding Model, along with San Francisco, Los Angeles and a large area in North Carolina.
The Lane County study will use a randomly selected control group to use Family Finding services provided by A Family for Every Child. Another control group will go through the normal DHS process.
Volunteer Opportunities
There are three different volunteer positions available:
File Mining: Research DHS files for information. Spend 1-3 hours a week at a DHS office.
Internet Research: Be a detective! Search for lost connections for foster children. Spend 1-6 hours a week / or per case at your own home on your own computer.
Contact/Connection Volunteer: Call identified potential family or other individuals associated with the foster child (or children) in your case at your home at your convenience.
Volunteers may do one or all of the steps in the process. Everyone who volunteers in the Family Finding program must complete an AFFEC application, a background check and orientation process. |
Heart Gallery Venue Locations
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Oakridge Church of the Nazarene
Market of Choice
29th & Willamette St.
Kendall Auto Group
Cornerstone Cafe and Bakery
Eugene Airport
Gateway Mall
Friendly Street Market
Oakway Center
T-Caps
Web Site T-CAPS.org
Rays Food Center--Creswell
Creswell Community Center
Creswell Library
Siuslaw Valley Bank - Creswell
SOFCU - Creswell
Grand Slam U.S.A.
Iron Works Gym
Dennys in Glenwood
Lakeside Clinic
Siuslaw Valley Bank~ Pleasant Hill
Cottage Grove Community Center
Bookmine-Cottage Grove
Cottage Grove Hospital
Dr. Dave Matthews DMD - Eugene
Summitt Bank - Eugene
Arbor South Architecture - Eugene
Precision Classics and Collision - Eugene
Pacific Auto - Eugene
Reflections - Coburg
Age: 12
Birth Day : 05/1996
Bulletin #12761
Lyden is a boy who loves the outdoors. He is especially interested in fishing and crabbing, but loves camping, hiking, and boating, too. His favorite subject in school is hands-on science. If he can't be outside, Lyden likes playing video games or watching the Discovery Channel on TV.
He has dark strawberry hair and blue green eyes with a fair complexion and freckles across his nose, dimples in his cheeks and a stocky build. Lyden loves to tell stories.
A family willing to make Lyden the center of attention and are nurturing and will listen to him will be a perfect match for him. Mainly allowing him to vent when angry or upset and allowing him a chance to tell his side of the story when in trouble is best. Lyden will continue to need supervision and he wants to help and learn new things from caregivers.
Lyden has two older siblings who he will need to maintain continued contact with, whether by in-person visits or talking on the telephone. Lyden has been making progress in a therapeutic environment and will need continued support, encouragement, and permanency to meet his potential.
Link to Lyden's Heart Gallery page.
HOW CAN YOU HELP?
ADOPT
Call the Department of Human Services ~ DHS 1-541-686-7555 and ask to talk with the adoption worker of the day about how to adopt.
SPREAD THE WORD
On our website and this email! Share with your family and friends that he needs and wants a family.
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