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The Gladney Center for Adoption in Fort Worth has increased its presence in connecting children with families.
Early this month the Gladney Center announced that it had been selected by the state of Texas to administer the Heart Gallery program in 19 counties in North Texas.
In each of these counties, Gladney is working to promote a Heart Gallery of children in that area who are in need of adoptive families.
The Heart Gallery program advocates for children living in foster care through photography. The photos taken by professional photographers are used to create galleries for display in businesses and other public venues. The pictures also include biographies of the children.
The children featured in Heart Galleries are typically those who have had to wait longer for adoptions, such as older youth, sibling groups, or children with medical needs.
“We've been a part of it for many years,” said Mark Melson, president and CEO of Gladney. “It's been a great resource to invite people in a very easy kind of a non-pressure way to learn more about kiddos who may be available for adoption.”
Gladney is expected to make more than 200 total placements a year, according to Melson. That after the agency took over the operations and staff of Madison Adoption Associates in Delaware, a major adoption agency that services families and children all over the world.
With the addition, Gladney will be able to offer more options to families seeking adoption with new countries to consider, including Thailand, Philippines, Hong Kong, Bulgaria, Ecuador, and Dominican Republic.
Moreover, the move has given Gladney extended licensing in more states and allows it to offer home study services and support in additional locations.
Gladney is now the largest “diverse” agency in the country of those organizations that do placements out of foster care, international adoptions, and domestic adoptions.
“With the addition of Madison, that added a lot more to our international side,” Melson said. “Ours had slowly gotten smaller. The footprint now is continuing to grow and it's going to continue.”
Gladney will operate the Heart Gallery in Tarrant County as well as 18 other North Texas counties, including: Collin, Cooke, Dallas, Denton, Ellis, Erath, Fannon, Grayson, Hood, Hunt, Johnson, Kaufman, Navarro, Palo Pinto, Parker, Rockwall, Somervell, and Wise.
Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker is an advocate of Heart Gallery, urging local businesses to “consider hosting a Heart Gallery photo display in your office.”
The Heart Gallery partners with WFAA/Ch. 8's "Wednesday's Child," which features children in the care of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services because of abuse and neglect.
The national model for the Heart Gallery originated with the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department in 2001. It has since helped connect foster children with adoptive families in cities and states.
The state of Texas embraced the concept in recent years. Community partners and adoption agencies enthusiastically came forward to assist the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services in its efforts to promote the adoption of Texas children.
In the most recent Legislative session in 2023, the Legislature approved funding to expand the Heart Gallery program to all 11 regions in the state.
“We raised our hand and said, ‘Look, this is a big core of what we do, finding homes for kiddos. We've got the ability to invest in this area a little bit,’” Melson said. “So, we actually kind of took some of it on before the funding came out in hopes that we would get the nod [to lead this region], and we ultimately did.”
