A Family For Every Child (AFFEC) is an umbrella organization with many programs. The Heart Gallery Adoption Agency (HGAA) is one of those programs. While AFFEC serves families from all over the country. Our Adoption Agency serves only Oregon families.

The Heart Gallery Adoption Agency was started in November of 2008. HGAA was created to meet the needs of older and harder to place children. When these children believe that the system has given up on them, in turn, they give up on themselves. Through our recruitment efforts we have found that there are many families who would welcome these children. By offering support we aim to find Forever Families for children previously labeled as "unadoptable".

How we differ from other Oregon Adoption Agencies

We solely focus on families that are looking to adopt from the foster care system. 100% of our families are looking to adopt children that are considered hard-to-place. We do not work with families interested in domestic private adoptions (infant adoptions) or international adoptions.

We help Oregon families look nationwide for children. Oregon has become very competitive in the last few years and we feel that it is to the advantage of some families to look outside the Oregon system for children that would be a good match for their family.

Support and information are vital for success. We at Heart Gallery Adoption Agency are committed to providing the information and support necessary to help our families succeed at SNAC adoptions.
 Heart Gallery Adoption families will be included in our Matching Assistant Program.

The matching assistance program supports your family by assigning a family adoption specialist during your journey to adoption, as well as, the ability to show caseworkers your personality and character through pictures and a bio page.

Here are the following benefits to this program:

• You will be assigned your own FAMILY ADOPTION SPECIALIST that searches for you, follows up and helps you submit on kids all over the country.
• A REVIEWER that reads your family biography and homestudy documents to give you perspective and suggestions for your family profile.
• You get access to additional child listings, three times as many kids that are on the public website. Children listed, are from all over the United States and can sometimes be seen in other photolistings online. These children are conveniently located in one place for easy review and home-study submission.
• CHILD SEARCHES-Family Adoption Specialist's search over 75 national photolisting sites for children that meet your adoption preferences and qualifications, sending you at least eight compiled lists of children that may work for you each month.
• And, you get to SUBMIT FOR YOURSELF, with a link to a family profile page and extra information you would like to share.
• Within the first two weeks, we send your family biography, homestudy documents and family videos to our extensive database of over 2,000 recruiters, social workers and agencies around the United States, introducing your family as a potential match for a waiting a child or children on their caseload.
• You get to CREATE A FAMILY BIOGRAPHY PAGE to help communicate the strengths of your family and use images to tell your story.
• ACCESS TO IN-DEPTH INFORMATION ON ADOPTION, new photolisting sites, creating a life book, services, trainings and more from within the login site.
• You get ADVANCED email notices of 'KIDS IN NEED." We usually send these out when a child is in urgent need, and caseworkers are really ready to move quickly. The MAP families get 24 advance notice of these situations.
• You get WEEKLY EMAIL NEWSLETTERS geared toward the MAP program.

Lisa Long is the new Adoption Agency Coordinator, Lisa has been with the agency since July of 2008 when she started as a "Family Finding" and "Princess Event" volunteer. In May of 2009 she joined the staff as the Front Office Coordinator, and shortly after moved into Mentor Program Director and Family Support Director positions. Lisa has years of experience as a foster parent where she parented foster children along with her three biological children. All of this experience helps with the families she works with.

Along with her new duties as the Adoption Agency Coordinator, Lisa will be continuing her role as our Family Support Director. She will be your main contact for all administrative items as well as any family support needs.

Her contact information is below:

email: lisa@afamilyforeverychild.org

phone: 541-343-2856

The process begins when prospective parents inquire about a specific child or adoption in general. This is done by completing an online Adoption Inquiry Form on our website or by contacting our agency directly in-person or via telephone. We are here to answer all of your questions about the adoption process and are more than happy to meet with you in person or over the phone for a consultation.

We encourage all families to investigate your options and make sure that you work with the agency that is best for your family. There are two ways that you can get a Home Study: You can either work with a "public" agency, such as DHS or a "private" SNAC agency. Working with DHS to complete your Home Study is free, however, with recent budget constraints and hiring freezes your wait may be up to 6-12 months to get started depending on what county you live in. There is generally a fee to work with a SNAC agency, however, you will generally have a Home Study in approximately 3-6 months depending on a few variables. To view a list of the SNAC agencies in Oregon, click here.

There are approximately 60 active bulletins (100 children) on OARE and available for adoption by general applicants. DHS reports focusing on reunification (fewer kids in foster care) followed by a diligent search for relative placement options. DHS has about 180 families who are home studied and waiting to adopt with about 200 more on a "wait list" for home study services. DHS is prioritizing which families to serve; relatives and current caretakers are studied first as well as families who can meet the needs of high needs youth.

To view a list of questions to ask prospective agencies click here.
 

One of the first steps in the process, regardless of the type of agency you choose, is to get signed up for the Foundations Training in your county here in Oregon. All prospective adoptive parents will need to take this training before their Home Study can be finalized and depending on your county there may be a wait, so it is best to get enrolled as soon as you know that you are interested in beginning the process to adopt.

Click here for an additional training schedule.

The next step, once you have decided on your agency, is to begin filling out the agency's Parent Packet or Application forms, schedule a physical exam with your health professional, and begin gathering all the necessary documents (birth certificates, marriage licenses, income verification items, etc.). This can take some time and be a little overwhelming. Make sure you go at a pace that is right for you and feel free to call our office to get any questions you may have answered.

So much depends on adequate, restful sleep. We've got important work to do at night, from physical growth (80% of growth hormone is secreted while we sleep), to mental growth (integrating themes and memories of the day), to recharging cellular batteries, and other functions that we just haven't understood yet.

We all sleep in cycles, but children have unique sleep patterns. As infants, they have many sleep periods through a day, and a greater proportion of active (REM) sleep - about 50%, with the other half being "quiet sleep", a precursor to more developed Stages 1-4 of non-REM sleep. By 3-4 months, melatonin turns on, and infants organize their sleep into more of a day/night pattern. This is why it's silly to expect children to sleep through the night before 4 months.

By 6 months, the full cycle of non-REM and REM sleep is happening, but infants can get into Stages 3 and 4 (deep sleep) much faster than adults, and still spend more time in REM sleep. Deep non-REM sleep is important, since it's the most restorative phase of sleep, and is also when growth hormone is released. REM sleep seems to process and organize new memories and events, and is crucial to mental wellbeing.

To read full article, click here.

Please Join us at the Coburg Papa's Pizza on Monday, July 11th to raise money for A Family For Every Child. Print this flyer and take it with you and 50% of the cost from your purchase will go to help kids in foster care find forever families! You may also buy Fund-raiser Bucks and 25% of that purchase will also go to the great cause.

We will have brochures with more information about our organization and photos of kids awaiting their forever home. Please help them and enjoy some great pizza while your at it! See you Monday, July 11th at the Coburg Papa's Pizza in Eugene! Don't forget, just print out the flyer to remind yourself to bring it!

 AFFEC is the proud recipient of Bi-Mart's Willamette Country Music Festival's generosity!

Sign up NOW

They are making available to us 100 tickets for our Mentor/Mentee matches and foster/adoptive parents, we work with, for a weekend of fun. Please submit your interest to christy@afamilyforeverychild.org.

Thank you Bi-Mart! The Bi-Mart Willamette Country Music Festival welcomes an exciting lineup of performers!

The Bi-Mart Willamette Country Music Festival is an exciting 3-day outdoor country music and camping event located near the historic community of Brownsville, Oregon. The 2011 dates are August 19, 20 and 21. This fantastic event is the Pacific Northwest's fastest growing concert and camping experience featuring more than a dozen of country music's biggest stars!

Besides star studded music, the Bi-Mart Willamette Country Music Festival also offers RV and tent camping just steps from the grand stage. We are also excited to welcome Radio Disney, for the best in kids' entertainment and family fun! Make your summer concert and camping plans now. We look forward to seeing you in August!

A volunteer or an intern to line up speakers for Support Group meetings; therapists, DHS topics, attorney, DYS, speakers for different topics, aged-out youth, successful adoptive families, successful adoptees, etc.

This person would outreach to local resources, schedule times that a representative would be willing to present at our support group meetings. And do follow up emails.

-Create Webinars - For families to use at each step in the process; how to create a lifebook, how to create a autobiography, how to create a useful parenting plan/safety plan, tips for a successful transition, etc. This could also be done by an intern.

-A volunteer or an Intern that could create a safety plan with the families, someone that could read the child evaluations, identify the behaviors or challenges of the child/children and help the family create an acceptable safety plan.

-Newsletter writer - someone who has been down the adoption journey, that could put together the Adoption Agency newsletters and find articles helpful to adoptive families.

-Adoption Mentors - those who have adopted from foster care who would be willing to mentor those in the process of adopting.

-Someone that could build a support group in the Portland area.

-Someone to use technology to video conference for the support groups - those in other areas could join in the topics they choose

Mini Fundraising Events:

-Someone who would be willing to create a Run/Walk event (to raise money and for awareness)

-Someone who would be willing to set up a Bowl-a-thon (to raise money and for awareness) 

-Someone that could set up a benefit concert in the park (to raise money and for awareness)

-Someone to set up a Wine Social at one of the local wineries (to raise money and for awareness)

-Someone who could set up a mystery dinner or comedy dinner show (to raise money and for awareness)