COLUMBIA, S.C. — The South Carolina Heart Gallery, a program of the South Carolina Department of Children’s Advocacy’s Foster Care Review Division, will commemorate its 20th anniversary on Friday, November 21 at 1 p.m. at the Cayce Tennis Center, 1120 Fort Congaree Trail in Cayce, South Carolina.
The celebration coincides with November’s designation as National Adoption Month. Speakers at the event include Margaret Bodman, state child advocate and director of the DCA; Lindsey Taylor, director of the FCRD; and Christina Grant, SCHG program coordinator.
For 20 years, SCHG has helped find forever families for children in foster care who are legally free and awaiting adoption. To fulfill its mission, SCHG recruits photographers who volunteer to take photos of these children at scenic locations around the state. Through a partnership with Grant Me Hope, videos of many of the children are also produced. Those photos and videos are shared on the SCHG’s website and social media accounts, featured on news broadcasts, and exhibited around the state.
The portraits and videos, along with a brief biographical sketch, highlight each child’s personality, allowing individuals interested in adopting an opportunity to get to know each child and what he or she is looking for in a family. Potential parents can then make an adoption inquiry to begin the process.
Over the years, SCHG has held photoshoots for hundreds of children from all over the state, resulting in numerous adoptions. In FY24, SCHG set a new record receiving 851 adoption inquiries, more than double the number it received (383) in FY23. In FY25, there were 501 inquiries, and in just the first quarter of FY26 (July-September), there have already been 133 inquiries.
During the ceremony, Taylor will recognize Mildred Qualls, a former FCRD staff member who took the initiative to create the program in 2005 and ran it as a completely volunteer effort for several years. Based on the resulting increase in adoption inquiries, SCHG began in 2008 to receive funding for these efforts from the South Carolina Department of Social Services.
South Carolina was among the first states to establish a Heart Gallery program, following New Mexico’s lead in 2001. To learn more about the history of the SC Heart Gallery, the adoption process, or to meet the children, visit scheartgallery.sc.gov.
For more information, contact Rob Schaller, director of communications for DCA at rob.schaller@childadvocate.sc.gov or (803) 734-4155.
About the S.C. Department of Children’ Advocacy
The Department of Children’s Advocacy’s mission is to champion advocacy, accountability and service to improve outcomes for children served by state agencies in South Carolina. For more information, visit childadvocate.sc.gov.