Barrington Books to Host Heart Gallery: Portraits of Children in Foster Care

Q. How many photographs does it take to change a life?

A. Only one . . . if it’s in the Heart Gallery

For the first time ever, Barrington’s local merchants will host Adoption Rhode Island’s 6th Annual Heart Gallery, a collection of portraits of children in foster care who are hoping to find forever families.

For the month of July, Barrington Books, Starbucks, and Talbots, in the center of town, have all generously offered to display this important collection. Professional photographers from around the state and our own East Bay, including Sabrina Scolari Photography in Warren and Julie Brigidi from Bristol Photography Worshops, have donated their talents and captured not only these children’s beautiful faces but their big personalities as well.

The Heart Gallery has previously traveled across our small state with big results.  Each year more than half of the children featured in the gallery have been matched with families who felt a sudden spark and thought to themselves, maybe. Maybe we have room in our hearts to change a life.

In the process, most families say that despite a few struggles, these kids have brought more joy than they ever could have imagined. Leah Berg, a resident of Barrington for the past ten years adopted two children from state care last fall. She says that her two older daughters (aged 8 and 10) have grown immensely from the experience, which began when they first started taking in foster children.

“My girls have learned how blessed they are to be living in a community like Barrington which has so many advantages. They have become more open and compassionate to kids who don’t have as much, and especially to those with special needs.”

To read more about foster care and adoption, you might want to check out the books, Three Little Words or The Heart Knows Something Different, available at Barrington Books.  Did you know that one of the owners of that bookstore is an adoptive parent?

Also available is Returnable Girl, my award-winning novel about a teen in foster care and her journey to adoption; I recently mentored a 17-year-old in foster care with her senior project and she showed me her tattered copy of my book — which she said she read a record 15 times! I guess she really liked it.

Besides the children featured in the Heart Gallery there are over 170 others currently in state care who are awaiting families. Many of them have suffered abuse or neglect. All of the ones I know are amazing, courageous, and resilient. One of them might just become your favorite person to hang out with. None of them asked to be removed from their birth families -- but they are ALL asking you to find a way to help. 

Of course, adoption isn’t right for every family, but there are lots of other ways to assist waiting children. Won’t you consider becoming a visiting resource, training to be a foster parent, or holding a fund-raiser to benefit waiting children?

Kids, get those famous Barrington lemonade stands ready! Or what about sharing your talent with a child, becoming a mentor, or donating time and resources or offering to volunteer?

For more information go to www.adoptionri.org or my website www.pamelalowell.com  In closing, I dare you to visit the Heart Gallery at the center in Barrington this month and walk away without it having touched your heart. Remember, it only takes one person to change a life.