What is The Bay Area Heart Gallery?

It is a professional “traveling” photography exhibit featuring children and youth in foster care who are in need of an adoptive home or a permanent lifelong connection to a committed adult.
We are a partnership of three (3) public and (1) private agencies working throughout the Bay Area..
Diane Granito founded the original Heart Gallery in New Mexico.
We are working together with community volunteers that include professional photographers, businesses and artists.
It is a stunning exhibit that includes over 50 photographs of children and youth and 20 photographs of families accompanied by their compelling stories.
Over the past two years, over 50 professional photographers have donated their talents and time to put a real face on the children and youth living in foster care in the Bay Area.
New photographs of children and youth are added throughout the year.

The Bay Area Heart Gallery is Unique

There have been over 80 Heart Galleries across the country primarily focusing on children in foster care in need of adoption. The Bay Area Heart Gallery is focusing not only on adoption but also recruits foster parents and permanent lifelong connections for older youth when adoption is not an option.
The exhibit includes portraits of diverse families from across the Bay Area, seeking to inspire all different types of community members to come forward and get involved with children and youth in foster care.
Resource information is available at the exhibits to educate the community about the needs of children and youth living in foster care about and how to get involved with foster youth when foster care or adoption is not an option (as advocate, friend, mentor, extended family, in arts projects, etc.).

to educate the community of the needs for adoption and permanency of children and youth in foster care;
to recruit adoptive families for older children, youth, and sibling groups;
to recruit adoptive and foster parents from throughout the Bay Area.

There are 2 duplicate exhibits so the exhibit can be displayed in a variety of venues.
The Exhibit is traveling across three Bay Area counties throughout the year (Alameda, San Francisco, and San Mateo).
Please check our website for calendar of ongoing venues www.bayareaheartgallery.com.

Over 10,000 in foster care in the Bay Area.
Over 83,000 in foster care in CA.
Over 500,000 in foster care across the country.
54% reunified with families.
More children of color in foster care than general US population.
Nearly half of the children in foster care are over 10; the average is 10.2 years old.