Partners
Gerard's House
Since 1997, Gerard's House has been supporting children and teenagers
who have experienced the death of someone significant in their lives. Gerard's House
provides weekly peer support groups where youth
ages 3-20
can
be together with other young people who share their feelings and
experiences in an atmosphere of respect and trust.
In 2009, CASA and Gerard's House collaborated to begin an exciting and
innovative new peer grief support program for children and youth who
are currently in the foster care system or who have been adopted. The program is developed on a collaborative basis with other agencies
and service providers in Santa Fe.
Other collaborative partners in this program include:
·
Santa Fe Mountain Center
·
the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department (CYFD)
·
the Adoption Means Love Foundation
Heart Gallery of New Mexico
Beginning in 2001, New Mexico’s Children, Youth and Families Department (CYFD) organized photographic exhibitions as a creative way to encourage the adoption of foster children. Annually, New Mexican photographers capture the personalities of 60-80 "hard to place” foster children. The
Heart Gallery
then organizes traveling and permanent exhibitions of these photographs where these children and potential adoptive parents can meet and interact. Dozens of children have been adopted through this exhibition program.
Since the first Heart Gallery exhibition in Santa Fe in 2001, the photographic exhibition concept has been replicated in 46 states, 80 cities, and 4 countries and covered extensively by national media. In 2006 the Heart Gallery of New Mexico Foundation was founded to promote the adoption of foster children by supporting and expanding Heart Gallery exhibitions and supplemental services. and expand the mission. For Heart Gallery information, contact: Diane Granito at 505-476-1045.