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Where
will the money go?
AFFEC offers
the following programs to serve children and
families:
HEART
GALLERY (Oregon
& Washington)
Our
photo exhibit has grown from one location to 40!
Since our inception, over 300 children have moved
through the Heart Gallery on to their forever
families. Sincere gratitude is offered to the
photographers who have donated their talent and
time to take compelling photos of children in
foster care.
HEART
GALLERY ADOPTION AGENCY
The
Heart Gallery Adoption Agency was founded with the
goal of assisting children waiting in foster care
to find their "Forever Families." The Heart
Gallery Adoption Agency is different than many
existing agencies because the focus is entirely on
special needs adoptions (children over
six-years-old, sibling sets, ethnic minorities, or
children with a physical, mental, or emotional
disability).
WEBSITES
While
the web can go hand in hand with the Gallery, it
can also be a simple stand alone tool. Our
two websites receive over 300 inquires, and over
120 home studies submitted to caseworkers a
week. The majority of these come from out of
state families from all over the
country.
MENTOR
PROGRAM
Our
mentors are dedicated to investing their time in
their youths to instill independence, confidence
and everyday life skills. This is done
through unconditional support that will in turn
create everlasting bonds.
FAMILY
BUILDING PROGRAM
It
is nationally recognized that 75% of the families
that begin the adoption process get discouraged by
the lack of support. We are a resource for
adoptive families, providing services, information
and support. Our two main goals in this area
are to keep potential adoptive families in
the process and the other is to ensure that
completed adoptions do not disrupt.
FAMILY
FINDING PROGRAM
This
is a search and reconnect process to help find
lost relatives and others who may have been in the
lives of foster children prior. This is done
through researching DHS case files, combined with
an Internet search.
MATCHING
ASSISTANCE PROGRAM
This
program was created to aid families through the
adoption process. We are committed to assisting
families, caseworkers and adoption workers in the
effort to place children in adoptive homes.
With special websites geared towards
parents, a liaison they can call, and an
ever-growing "private listing website" of many
more children that can't be seen on a public
site.
LIFE
BOOKERS
Each
child leaving foster care must have a Life Book
which is created for them to preserve their past.
Caseworkers are happy to have someone do this
large task for them and scrap bookers are pleased
to find a way to contribute.
LIFE
TIME COMMITTED PARENTS
Finding
permanent parents for teens before they exit
foster care, no matter what age they are, is the
single greatest positive youth development program
there is. The focus of this project is to find
permanent adoptive parents for teens that need a
permanent placement, or to find committed
permanent connections who will morally adopt teens
who are not emancipated but are in danger of
discharge from foster care to homelessness.
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