Heart Gallery of New Mexico

Hands reaching toward the sky About the Foundation
At any given moment, there are over 2,200 children in the custody of the New Mexico Children, Youth & Families Department (CYFD) due to abuse or neglect. While most children are returned to their birth families after certain court-established requirements are met, hundreds of children will never return home, and CYFD strives to find loving adoptive families for them.

The Heart Gallery of New Mexico was created by CYFD in 2001 as a way to raise awareness about these "waiting children." Talented photographers donate compelling portraits of the children which inspire people to adopt them. Thanks to national media coverage including Parade, People, ABC News, 20/20, CBS Sunday Morning, The Today Show, NPR, CNN, and The NY Times, the Heart Gallery of New Mexico has inspired over 40 other states to create similar projects. Six of these groups alone have resulted in adoptive placements for nearly five hundred children. Please see the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Children’s Bureau website www.adoptuskids.org for more information about the national Heart Gallery movement.

The Heart Gallery of New Mexico Foundation was created to raise funds necessary to expand the Heart Gallery of New Mexico as well as to improve upon and support other New Mexico initiatives which encourage adoption through foster care.

The Heart Gallery of New Mexico Foundation is a registered 501c(3) organization. For more information about the foundation, please contact us at (505) 982-2426, or . You may also write to us at:

Heart Gallery of New Mexico Foundation
551 West Cordova St., #144
Santa Fe, New Mexico 87505

adoption fact:

Of the estimated 513,000 children in foster care as of September 30, 2005, 46 percent were in nonrelative foster family homes, 24 percent were in relative foster homes, 18 percent were in group homes or institutions, 4 percent were in pre-adoptive homes, and 7 percent were in other placement types.

Adoption was the goal in 20% of these cases (114,000), and of the adoptions that took place, 60% of the children were adopted by their foster families.

The Heart Gallery of New Mexico helps waiting children in the Children, Youth and Families Department connect with adoptive families by utilizing the donated talents of renowned photographers from throughout the state. The resulting portraits reveal the souls of these beautiful children and aid them in finding forever families through state-wide exhibits.

Site & design donated by: Kris Genovese [Big Black Dog Designs] and Sebastien Dartevelle [LANL].