Adoption gallery hits State House

BOSTON. When Ruth Bodian found out she shared the same birthday as Jaron, a young foster child she met at an adoption event in the fall of 2006, she was sold.

Of course, there was so much more about Jaron that drew her in to begin with.

“He just had a way about him,” Bodian said alongside her now son, a 12-year-old who spent over six years in foster care. “Something in the way he spoke to me.”

Jaron was one of dozens of adoptable children featured in the 2007 Heart Gallery, organized by the Massachusetts Adoption Resource Exchange (MARE) each year to raise awareness of adoption and to recruit people like Bodian who are considering such a process.

This year’s gallery — the fourth annual in Massachusetts — was unveiled yesterday at the State House. Local photographers volunteer to create large images of the children, many of whom are harder to place in a home for various reasons.

According to MARE Executive Director Lisa Funaro, nearly 75 percent of the 34 adoptable kids aged 4 to 16 are expected to be find homes as the gallery travels across the state from now through November.

One may wind up with Jaron as an older brother. Bodian said she has her eye on another boy featured in the gallery.

“I’m living proof of the importance of events like this,” she said moments after a smiling Jaron whisked a cracker from her plate.