November is National Adoption Month. The Indiana Adoption Program, in partnership with the Allen County Courts, is hosting a special National Adoption Month event on November 19 at 1:00pm at the Allen County Courthouse in Ft. Wayne. The event will celebrate families who have adopted as well as feature resources on foster care and adoption for children in need of homes across the state.

The Heart Gallery has been invited to partner with the National Adoption Month event and will be on display throughout the occasion. The Indiana Department of Child Services (DCS) uses the Heart Gallery’s remarkable 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.

Location: Allen County Courthouse

https://secure.in.gov/judiciary/2994.htm

715 S. Calhoun St.

Ft. Wayne, IN 46802

Available: 8:30am – 4pm

Additional Adoption Information

· The 2015 National Adoption Month will focus on the adoption of older youth currently in foster care—because “We Never Outgrow the Need for Family."

· DCS and our partners focus year around on finding permanent families for older youth through resources such as the Indiana Heart Gallery and The Picture Book. Both profile and share stories of older youth currently in foster care and available for adoption. These stories and additional information about the Indiana Adoption Program are on the DCS adoption web page at www.adoptachild.in.gov, or you can call 888.25ADOPT.

· The national trend shows fewer adoptions and this holds true in Indiana. In State fiscal Year (SFY) 2009 there were 1577 adoptions, compared to SFY 2015, when the total number of finalized adoptions was 1245. One can only speculate the reasons, but these numbers also shed light on the need to bring more awareness to the need for adoption.

About Indiana Heart Gallery:

The Heart Gallery is a traveling photographic exhibit the Indiana Department of Child Services created in 2007 to help find forever families for children in foster care. Venues generally include hospitals, libraries, museums and churches. There are more than 120 Heart Galleries across the U.S. and the exhibits have resulted in more than 5,000 children around the country finding adoptive families. With help from the Heart Gallery, more than 1,000 Hoosier foster kids found forever homes in state fiscal year 2014.

About Indiana Department of Child Services:

The Indiana Department of Child Services (www.in.gov/dcs) protects children from abuse and neglect and works to ensure the financial support of children. Indiana Child Abuse/Neglect Hotline: 800.800.5556. Child Support Customer Service Kidsline: 800.840.8757 or 317.233.5437.