The Indiana Heart Gallery, a traveling exhibit featuring compelling portraits of children in need of adoptive families, is stopping in LaGrange. The Gallery will be featured at LaGrange Library July 25 – August 5. The Indiana Department of Child Services (DCS) uses the Heart Gallery’s professional portraits and stories about foster children in Indiana to help put a face on a sometimes invisible need and remind families that adoption can change lives. There is no charge to see the Gallery.

“On average 75-100 Hoosier kids need adoptive homes because they were removed from abusive or neglectful situations,” said Sandra Caesar, DCS’ adoption manager. “Every child needs a family they can call their own. We need families that are not only willing to love our children but are also prepared to commit to them, claim them as their own and hang in there through their ups and downs.”

Nationally, nearly 400,000 children are in foster care in the United States. More than 100,000 are legally available for adoption and in need of adoptive families. Many of these children are older, in sibling groups that want to be adopted together or have special medical needs. For some foster kids, getting adopted can mean the difference between homelessness or incarceration and transitioning successfully to adulthood.

Location: LaGrange Library

http://www.lagrange.lib.in.us/

203 West Spring Street

LaGrange, IN 46761

Available: Mon.-Thu: 9:00am-8:00pm and Fri. – Sat. 9:00am-5:00pm

Additional Adoption Links and Information

· For more information about the Indiana Heart Gallery, go to http://www.in.gov/dcs/3033.htm.

· To find out more about adopting an Indiana child, go to www.adoptachild.in.gov or call 888.25ADOPT.

· To view Indiana youth up for adoption: http://www.adoptuskids.org/states/in/browse.aspx.