{"id":12319,"date":"2022-08-04T10:44:34","date_gmt":"2022-08-04T14:44:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/?post_type=wfsu-news&p=12319"},"modified":"2022-08-04T11:09:20","modified_gmt":"2022-08-04T15:09:20","slug":"heart-gallery-big-bend-is-focused-on-finding-forever-homes-for-older-foster-kids","status":"publish","type":"wfsu-news","link":"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/wfsu-news\/heart-gallery-big-bend-is-focused-on-finding-forever-homes-for-older-foster-kids\/","title":{"rendered":"Heart Gallery Big Bend is focused on finding forever homes for older foster kids"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The need for more families willing to give kids from troubled circumstances a better life is growing. That need is especially acute when it comes to older children.<\/p>\n

Heart Gallery Big Bend came to be in the summer of 2008. The organization, which seeks to move children from foster care into permanent family settings, is totally run by volunteers. One of these is its Secretary Cassie Branch.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe try to help kids who have been in the dependency system. They are free and clear for adoption. Their parental rights have been terminated and we work to help get them out in the community to find a forever family for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

And Branch isn\u2019t just a volunteer. She takes the issue of adoption seriously and personally.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy husband and I have adopted 4 kids, one of which was a teenager off of the Heart Gallery. And we are working to adopt our 5th kid who is off of the Heart Gallery and is 4 years old. Three of our kids that we adopted were actually foster placements in our home before we adopted them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

If you log onto the Heart Gallery Big Bend web site, you\u2019ll see the smiling faces of 25 kids who are presently looking for adoptive families. And you can\u2019t help but notice that, for the most part, these are kids above the age of 10. Some are even of middle and early high school age. Branch said it\u2019s typically these kids who are least likely to be adopted.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very difficult. A lot of people are looking for (young) kids, babies and these are not the norm. Normally we are seeing kiddos who linger in foster care because a forever family is not found due to the age they are. They then age out of foster care with no forever family.\u201d<\/p>\n

It’s a sad circumstance that Branch said puts those kids at a severe disadvantage as they face adult life without a caring support system to help them on their way. Branch admits adopting an older child has its challenges, but those who take up the challenge are by no means super-humans.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd it really doesn\u2019t take anybody special. It takes somebody who can take a child into their home, meet their needs on every level, and can create a connection with them and love them for the rest of their life. And just create a support system for them as well as though they\u2019re your child.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is a big commitment. But Branch said the program needs other kinds of help as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can volunteer with the Heart Gallery to be a board member, or you can volunteer at functions. We have different committees so you can choose what you\u2019re interested in. If you want to work one-on-one with the kids, we have a photography committee and do events with them. We have fund-raising and then we have advocacy, So that way we can advocate for the kids on the Heart Gallery.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s lots to be done and Cassie Branch said it\u2019s easy to learn more.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re interested in volunteering, or finding out more about the Heart Gallery, go to our web site: heartgallerybigbend.org.\u201d <\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":12320,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","wds_primary_category":0},"categories":[],"tags":[1136,1135],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHeart Gallery Big Bend is focused on finding forever homes for older foster kids - WFSU Local Routes<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/wfsu-news\/heart-gallery-big-bend-is-focused-on-finding-forever-homes-for-older-foster-kids\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Heart Gallery Big Bend is focused on finding forever homes for older foster kids - WFSU Local Routes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The organization's volunteer leaders say too many kids are aging out of the foster care system with no family to call their own.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/wfsu-news\/heart-gallery-big-bend-is-focused-on-finding-forever-homes-for-older-foster-kids\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"WFSU Local Routes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-08-04T15:09:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/heartgallery.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/wfsu-news\/heart-gallery-big-bend-is-focused-on-finding-forever-homes-for-older-foster-kids\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/wfsu-news\/heart-gallery-big-bend-is-focused-on-finding-forever-homes-for-older-foster-kids\/\",\"name\":\"Heart Gallery Big Bend is focused on finding forever homes for older foster kids - WFSU Local Routes\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-08-04T14:44:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-08-04T15:09:20+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/wfsu-news\/heart-gallery-big-bend-is-focused-on-finding-forever-homes-for-older-foster-kids\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/wfsu-news\/heart-gallery-big-bend-is-focused-on-finding-forever-homes-for-older-foster-kids\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/wfsu-news\/heart-gallery-big-bend-is-focused-on-finding-forever-homes-for-older-foster-kids\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Heart Gallery Big Bend is focused on finding forever homes for older foster kids\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/\",\"name\":\"WFSU Local Routes\",\"description\":\"Local stories from northern Florida and southern Georgia.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Heart Gallery Big Bend is focused on finding forever homes for older foster kids - WFSU Local Routes","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/wfsu-news\/heart-gallery-big-bend-is-focused-on-finding-forever-homes-for-older-foster-kids\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Heart Gallery Big Bend is focused on finding forever homes for older foster kids - WFSU Local Routes","og_description":"The organization's volunteer leaders say too many kids are aging out of the foster care system with no family to call their own.","og_url":"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/wfsu-news\/heart-gallery-big-bend-is-focused-on-finding-forever-homes-for-older-foster-kids\/","og_site_name":"WFSU Local Routes","article_modified_time":"2022-08-04T15:09:20+00:00","og_image":[{"width":600,"height":400,"url":"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/heartgallery.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/wfsu-news\/heart-gallery-big-bend-is-focused-on-finding-forever-homes-for-older-foster-kids\/","url":"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/wfsu-news\/heart-gallery-big-bend-is-focused-on-finding-forever-homes-for-older-foster-kids\/","name":"Heart Gallery Big Bend is focused on finding forever homes for older foster kids - WFSU Local Routes","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/#website"},"datePublished":"2022-08-04T14:44:34+00:00","dateModified":"2022-08-04T15:09:20+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/wfsu-news\/heart-gallery-big-bend-is-focused-on-finding-forever-homes-for-older-foster-kids\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/wfsu-news\/heart-gallery-big-bend-is-focused-on-finding-forever-homes-for-older-foster-kids\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/wfsu-news\/heart-gallery-big-bend-is-focused-on-finding-forever-homes-for-older-foster-kids\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Heart Gallery Big Bend is focused on finding forever homes for older foster kids"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/#website","url":"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/","name":"WFSU Local Routes","description":"Local stories from northern Florida and southern Georgia.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wfsu-news\/12319"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wfsu-news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/wfsu-news"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/35"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}