The Moritz Center for Societal Impact, housed within The University of Texas at Austin School of Social Work, leads the Heart Galleries of Texas, which is a one-of-a-kind collaboration established and funded $6 million a year by the Texas Legislature to leverage the expertise and resources of the Moritz Center.
The Heart Galleries of Texas is a statewide organization that supports local communities to increase the numbers of children adopted from foster care and support those children and families before, during and after adoption.
In partnership with the Texas Institute for Child & Family Wellbeing and the Texas Alliance of Child and Family Services, Heart Galleries of Texas has contributed to 305 children leaving foster care for a permanent placement, 1,537 children and families receiving critical mental health services, and 1,512 professionals receiving enhanced training in supporting families formed by adoption.
“Legislative support for the program demonstrates a state commitment to the wellbeing of children and families in Texas, as well as the importance of higher education’s role in helping solve critical social problems,” said Allan Cole, dean of UT Social Work and founding director of the Moritz Center. “The excellence and leadership in UT Social Work’s Moritz Center, Texas Institute for Child and Family Wellbeing, and the Heart Galleries of Texas, model how partnerships and collaboration in higher education can serve the public good.”
“I thank the Texas Legislature for continuing to invest in our most vulnerable youth and families and trusting the Mortiz Center to shepherd this critical program,” continued Cole. “I also thank the local communities that have invited and embraced this work as well as our university’s leadership, the Department of Family and Protective Services, the Texas Women’s Commission, and especially the State of Texas Office of the First Lady, all of whom continue to help advance our University’s mission to ‘transform lives for the benefit of society.’”
Within one year of its inception and for the first time in the state’s history, the Heart Galleries of Texas ensured that every region in the state had a local heart gallery to promote adoption from foster care.
The team also conducted a needs assessment of families who have adopted and determined that the highest need identified by families was access to quality mental and behavioral supports.
Using that data, the Heart Galleries of Texas distributed funds to enhance adoption supports for families before, during and after adoption based on the needs identified by communities.
“State funds will continue to build capacity in local communities to sustain their heart galleries, distribute additional funds for post-adoption services that promote healthy and stable family functioning, and increase capacity of professional and volunteers to support families impacted by guardianship,” said Kori Gough, executive director of the Heart Galleries of Texas. “Families formed through adoption, kinship, and/or guardianship need support or there is a risk of youth coming back into the foster care system.
“Our focus is listening to parents in communities across the state to get resources to them,” Gough continued. “We are excited to be implementing projects that will increase the number of licensed mental health professionals trained in providing adoption competent clinical services and creating a referral and resource point of contact for families.”