Photograph the Kids Who Are Waiting

Heart Gallery programs use real portraits — not case-file snapshots — to help kids in foster care get adopted. Good photos move children off waiting lists.

CategoryThe Orphan

TimeA Saturday

Cost$0

ModeAlone

The photo on a waiting-child profile is often a phone snapshot taken in an office hallway. Families scroll past it. That’s the whole problem, and it’s fixable in an afternoon.

Search Heart Gallery plus your state. If there isn’t one, call the state adoption unit and ask who takes their photos.

What you'll need

A camera you actually know how to use, and one fast lens
A background check through the agency, done ahead of time
An hour of editing per kid, and a fast turnaround

Pitfalls

Shoot them doing something. A teenager on a skateboard gets seen. A teenager against a wall does not.
Let the kid pick the shirt and the spot. It may be the first choice anybody's handed them in a while.
Never post the images yourself. The agency controls where a child in care appears.

Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation. — Psalm 68:5