Now, to see photos of kids in Florida\u2019s care, you have to go through a process that takes six months to a year: attend an informational session, take a series of classes, pass a background check and home study with inspections and interviews.<\/p>\n
The law was intended to protect foster kids\u2019 privacy \u2014 and keep them safe.<\/p>\n
But some child welfare advocates say it\u2019s hindering those children\u2019s chances of being adopted. And causing prospective parents to seek kids from other states.<\/p>\n
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More than 15,000<\/a> children are in Florida\u2019s foster care system, the third highest of any state.<\/a><\/p>\n The Children\u2019s Network of Hillsborough County<\/a> cares for 1,124 of them.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have seen both a decline in general inquiries and a decrease in the number of families moving forward in the adoption process,\u201d Chief Executive Officer Terri Balliet wrote recently in an email to the Tampa Bay Times. She estimated about a 15% drop in potential adoptions since the law went into effect.<\/p>\n Historically, Balliet wrote, photos have been one of the best ways to recruit adoptive families. The images inspired an emotional connection.<\/p>\n Brigette Schupay, who runs the Heart of Adoptions Alliance<\/a> and works with Heart Galleries throughout Florida, said inquiries to her offices have plummeted since the law went into effect.<\/p>\n \u201cAt first,\u201d she said, \u201cwe thought our website was broken.\u201d<\/p>\n In 2023, her agency averaged 15 inquiries every month. So far this year, she said, they have only gotten 55.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s shocking,\u201d Schupay said. \u201cI\u2019ve seen so many kids get adopted into wonderful homes because their portraits were in the Heart Gallery, because of mall displays. Pictures make all the difference.\u201d<\/p>\n Former foster kids requested the restrictions on sharing their photos, said James Minter, director of advocacy for the Selfless Love Foundation<\/a>. A national nonprofit dedicated to improving the child welfare system, the organization\u2019s Jupiter office helped spearhead the legislation.<\/p>\n At a Florida Coalition for Children<\/a> conference in 2022, Minter said, former foster youth were asked: What should change in the system?<\/p>\n Some had been adopted. Many had aged out without finding families.<\/p>\n Most said their top priority was to \u201cclose the pet shop.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThey wanted control over their privacy,\u201d Minter said. \u201cThey didn\u2019t want their pictures and personal information plastered all over everywhere, for anyone to see.\u201d<\/p>\n One young woman said after classmates saw her photo on an adoption site, they bullied her. Others complained that even after they had aged out of foster care, their photos remained online.<\/p>\n \u201cThe digital footprint is out there forever,\u201d Minter said.<\/p>\n Minter\u2019s organization reached out to Republican state Rep. Dana Trabulsy to sponsor a bill in the House.<\/p>\n It passed unanimously in both chambers.<\/p>\n Trabulsy didn\u2019t return requests for comment about the law.<\/p>\n Adoption advocates say they understand the reasoning behind the new law \u2014 and its intent. But they worry about the unintended consequences.<\/p>\n \u201cThis came as a surprise for all the Heart Galleries across the state,\u201d said Mary Kinirons, who ran the Broward County Heart Gallery. \u201cNo one was consulted.\u201d<\/p>\n She and Matthew Straeb, who co-founded the Heart Gallery of America in 2008, met with legislators and representatives from Florida\u2019s Department of Children and Families to alert them to the possible downsides after the law passed.<\/p>\n They warned about the complicated maze people would have to navigate to see faces of children they might fall in love with.<\/p>\n In the first months after the law went into effect, Kinirons said, inquiries to her Broward Heart Gallery dropped by half. In December, she dissolved the 20-year-old nonprofit. She worries more of Florida\u2019s dozen Heart Galleries might close.<\/p>\n Straeb has been reaching out to the more than 70 Heart Galleries across the U.S. and Canada, warning them about what\u2019s happening in Florida.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s so frustrating,\u201d he said. \u201cThey took something that had worked for 20 years and entirely eliminated that option.\u201d<\/p>\n Some states, like Idaho, have cancelled their contracts for producing Wednesday\u2019s Child<\/a> TV segments promoting adoptable kids. Others are considering requiring agencies to substitute foster kids\u2019 portraits with generic stock photos \u2014 or pictures generated by AI.<\/p>\n Heart Gallery kids are often older, disabled or part of sibling groups, who are difficult to find families for, Straeb said.<\/p>\n Connie Going, who helped start the Pinellas Heart Gallery, now runs Going Adoption Agency<\/a>.<\/p>\n Going and other adoption experts help families sign up for classes, schedule home studies and get approved to go behind the locked website to, ultimately, see children. They find grants to offset educational and adoption costs. Foster children often can be adopted for $500 or less, Going said. Private adoptions can cost up to $30,000.<\/p>\n Even after the state approves people to proceed with the adoption process, Going said, they still hit roadblocks.<\/p>\n Each Heart Gallery vets its own potential parents, so if you want to look at kids throughout Florida, you have to apply to a dozen different agencies. Home studies are only valid for a year, so if it takes longer than that to match with a child, you have to start over.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople are giving up,\u201d Going said. \u201cOr going to other states.\u201d<\/p>\n On the national site AdoptUSKids<\/a>, anyone can see portraits of foster children from states like Georgia, Alabama and Louisiana and read their bios. When you search for children in Florida, you see only their first names in big blue letters, adorned with images of bows and basketballs.<\/p>\n On Florida\u2019s Explore Adoption<\/a> site, the public can\u2019t see anything. The \u201cChild Search\u201d tab leads you to login with an approved account.<\/p>\n If you are approved to see the kids\u2019 portraits, the advocates said, many don\u2019t match their brief bios. A boy who looks 6 is now listed as 16. \u201cThey\u2019re supposed to update the photos every six months,\u201d Going said.<\/p>\n The state Department of Children and Families tracks adoptions by fiscal year. In 2023-24, its annual report said 3,936 children were adopted from Florida. In 2024-25 \u2014 the most recent data \u2013 3,671 kids were adopted. That\u2019s a 6.7% drop in the first year since the prohibition went into effect.<\/p>\n It\u2019s too early, many adoption advocates said, to ascertain the law\u2019s long-term effects.<\/p>\n The Heart Gallery of Tampa<\/a>, the oldest in Florida, has shifted its approach due to the new law.<\/p>\n The organization\u2019s Facebook page <\/a>features portraits of the back of a curly-haired child playing piano, a boy holding a basketball to obscure his face and another kid hidden behind a comic book.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had to figure out a plan and pivot,\u201d said Lindsay Hermida, who runs the nonprofit. Besides making sure foster kids\u2019 portraits are unidentifiable, staff now show success stories, photos of children who have been adopted. They have added more training and support for prospective parents. They hired a recruiter to reach out to people with approved home studies.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve really evolved in how we operate,\u201d Hermida said. \u201cSo we haven\u2019t seen much of an impact from this new law. Yet.\u201d<\/p>\n RoseMarie Richardson, program director of the Heart Gallery of Pinellas & Pasco<\/a>, also switched course. Her staff started having kids create \u201cHeart Art,\u201d drawings, paintings and collages that represent who they are or what they want. An artist from Florida CraftArt<\/a>, who grew up in foster care, helps the children use an array of mediums to tell their stories. One girl used pipe cleaners to build a bed. She\u2019d never had a new one.<\/p>\n When the law went into effect, \u201cinitially, we saw a decline in inquiries,\u201d said Richardson, whose group oversees 140 children. But now that the kids\u2019 art is on the website, and in libraries, churches and galleries across the counties, interest has rebounded to earlier levels.<\/p>\n Their art, she said, \u201cis what\u2019s tugging at people\u2019s heartstrings now.\u201d<\/p>\n Some foster children, Heart Gallery leaders said, were excited to have their portraits taken. Many didn\u2019t have photos of themselves and loved getting dressed up. Older children always got to help choose which pictures went online or were hung in malls.<\/p>\n \u201cIt made them feel seen,\u201d Straeb said. \u201cIt gave them agency, the chance to market themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n The new legislation doesn\u2019t allow kids to \u201copt in\u201d and let their photos be used. But some foster youth are talking about ultimately adding that provision, Minter said, and they can still choose to put images on their own social media.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/6cece1a620030d1b66174f2c755e9c6d.jpeg\"\/)
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