How did the Heart Gallery begin? 

The Heart Gallery was founded by the New Mexico Children, youth and Families Department in 2001 as a way to help foster children in protective custody who are waiting for adoptive families step from he shadows into the light. Stirring portraits that reveal the children's amazing spirits and individuality have helped many of them find loving homes. 

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What is the Heart Gallery? 

Many of the foster children available for adoptions in our communities hope to realize their dream of finding permanent loving adoptive families they can call their own. The Heart Gallery of Bluebonnet Country is a collaborative endeavor between the Department of Family and Protective Services and the Region 8b rural area Child Welfare Boards that was established in January 2020.

The Heart Gallery of Bluebonnet Country is a traveling exhibit that brings photographs of children waiting to be adopted into public spaces across the cities. Photographs are displayed at various community and corporate venues where they can be used to help attract potential adoptive families. The Gallery also raises awareness and educates the communities about foster children. The Gallery teams up with professional photographers who capture the individuality and spirit of the children in foster care, to help them find their forever families.

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About the Heart Gallery

The professional portraits taken of the children are very special memories for both the children and the volunteers. The "Heart Gallery" portraits are exhibited at local galleries or other prominent places in the communities such as churches, banks, businesses, libraries, etc. Photographs in the Heart Gallery are for viewing only and may not be downloaded, used or published without the expressed permission of DFPS and the photographers who took them.

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Who We Are

The Heart Gallery of Bluebonnet County is an art exhibit and community education outreach initiative featuring children who are waiting for adoption. We work to find forever families for children through direct recruitment opportunities and education of foster and adoptive families. At the core of this outreach is simply a picture, but there is nothing simple about it, the volunteer photographers truly capture a child's sprit in every shot. These pictures speak louder than words, they say, "I'm here and I am special". We feature children annually from DFPS Region 8b rural counties in the Heart Gallery and our greatest joy comes when we receive that email from a caseworker to remove a child from the Gallery due to an "adoptive placement". A majority of  children featured in the Gallery are often older children, sibling groups and children with special needs who are in particular need of finding forever families. 

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How You Can Help the Heart Gallery

Volunteer Opportunities

• Photographers

• Framers for the portraits

• Beauticians to help organize beauty & barber shop "hair days" prior to the photo shoots

• Venue for the unveiling event, November 5, 2020

• Caterers for the events

• Designer for brochures, invitation and other printed material design

• Volunteers to assist in set-up and tear-down of the portrait displays

• Volunteers for the special events and fundraisers

• Portrait display venues to host the Heart Gallery portraits. This can be your agency, banks, churches, museums, businesses, libraries, etc.

• Sponsors to help with service costs that are not donated

• Other activities as needed

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Please contact us for more about the Foster/Adopt opportunities and hosting the Heart Gallery.

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