Photos key to uniting foster kids, parents

Photos key to uniting foster kids, parents
By KAREN UHLENHUTHThe Kansas City Star

Jackson County foster children in the market for permanent homes have
a new matchmaking tool working for them.

On Monday, the Web site http://www.kcchildren.org/ went online. Since
1999, a Web site aimed at bringing adoptable Jackson County foster
children to the attention of potential parents has existed. But the
old site was clunky, hard to find and featured muglike pictures taken
by social workers with few tools for the task.

The new site is more visually appealing, more user-friendly and offers
more information than its predecessor. Enhancing the photos was a
major goal, and the designer of the Web site — a local firm,
lookandfeel new media — rounded up 10 local professional photographers
who agreed to snap the pictures on a volunteer basis.

Many of the children were photographed outdoors. Some are posed while
involved in a favorite activity or with a favorite object. The home
page is topped by photos of newly available children for adoption.

“The purpose is … to showcase each child’s personality … or to show
the bond between the siblings,” said Virginia Lewis-Brunk, who manages
the Jackson County office of the state’s Children’s Division. She
pointed to a picture on the site of a pair of brothers in red
sweaters.

“You look at that picture, and you know they mean a lot to each other.
That picture puts a face to a story.”

“Their essence shines through,” said Mark Logan, managing partner of
lookandfeel new media.

During the state fiscal year that ended in June 2004, the Jackson
County Children’s Division office looked for permanent homes for
450 children. They placed 194. On Wednesday, 195 children were on the
site.

Child-welfare agencies across the country, including the Missouri
Department of Social Services, in recent years have stepped up their
marketing efforts to find permanent homes for foster children.
Professional portraits are central to that. The strategy has gained so
much traction that portraits of adoptable foster children have been
exhibited in public spaces in collections known as “heart galleries.”
A group of photos from the new Jackson County Children’s Division Web
site will be on display in the Kansas City Public Library Central
Library beginning Saturday through Jan. 8.

One of the pictures on the local Web site — four smiling sisters in a
group hug — is included in the National Heart Gallery, an exhibit that
opened this week at Union Station in Washington. Scott Chapin of
Lenexa took the photo and just returned from the exhibit’s opening.

While the more engaging pictures are one of the more obvious changes
to the Web site, other important revisions have made the site more
user-friendly. Visitors can type in search parameters — age, race,
gender, sibling status — and if they save the parameters, they will be
notified by e-mail whenever a child fitting that description becomes
available for adoption. On the previous site, visitors had to slog
through lots of profiles to find whom they wanted.

The new search feature takes a page from singles Web sites.

“I think we’re all learning from Matchmaker on Yahoo,” said Brent
Schondelmeyer, director of communications for the Local Investment
Commission (LINC), a nonprofit entity that strives to improve social
services through community involvement. He and LINC had a role in the
design of the old and new sites. “It’s the same concept, really.”

Each child’s profile page includes the name and e-mail address of his
or her social worker, with a one-click option to send an e-mail to
that person.

With a click or two, visitors can access information about the
prerequisites for becoming an adoptive or foster parent, upcoming
training sessions and foster-parenting forms.

The Children’s Division hopes that foster children in Platte and Clay
counties soon will be incorporated into the site, and eventually,
children throughout the state.

Chapin, who generally shoots for advertisements, decided to assist the
project after he heard about it from a photographer friend.

“I think it’s a … very good way to use my God-given talent to bless
others and to hopefully connect families.”

Over the summer he took two photographs, one of a boy, one of the four
smiling sisters.

“We had them in the park. I think it was Loose Park. I wanted to get
their personality as children rather than a beautiful picture of them
in perfect lighting. I saw happy kids, real good kids.”

That picture of the girls is part of the National Heart Gallery
exhibit.

Chris Crabtree is another volunteer. He photographed a brother and
sister, also during an outing to Loose Park.

“They might run over and sit on a park bench or be goofing off, and
you take some shots when they’re goofing off. That’s the way I like to
approach it,” Crabtree said.

Crabtree, who with his wife is seeking to adopt a girl from China,
received an e-mail about the project from another local photographer.

“I didn’t have to read the whole pitch. I read the words “adoption
…kids … help.

“I’m not an incredibly talented guy, but if I can take some pictures
and that helps them get adopted, that’s good for everybody.”
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