It was just about two years ago that Krista and CoCo told me about an (awesome!) little idea they had been tossing around.  Krista is always looking for ways to give back through her photography and CoCo had a friend actively trying to adopt in another state – together they wanted to do SOMEthing for the amazing people who make the incredible decision to add to their family through adoption.   My background, as you may recall, is in social work.  Specifically working for the state in child protective services.  I have had the privilege of being present for many adoption finalizations over the years and I LOVED the idea of bringing these two worlds together!

From there our Forever Family Portrait Day was born!  With a WHOLE lot of help and support from fellow photographers – who photographed families, assisted one another, documented the behind the scenes of our day, loaned us lighting and equipment, and so. much. more…

… and volunteers – who got families checked in, entertained children while they waited and answered LOTS of questions – we were able to photograph nearly 100 forever families!

Our very first family could not have been more perfect for kicking things off!  Zoey’s adoption had been finalized just the day before, on National Adoption Day, and this family was SO full of love and excitement!  You can actually read more about their adoption journey here.

There was PLENTY of goofiness at every station!

Not just in front of the camera!

Amazingly, this was not our largest family!

So much joy!

And so much sass!

Waiting so patiently.

There are SO many more families that we would love to share, unfortunately adoption can be complicated.  Some families have foster children – kids who are every bit a part of the family, but not yet legally so.  Others have adopted through the state DCF system and chose to remain private.  Still others are simply fiercely protective of their children and prefer we not use their images.  We fully respect these families’ decision to keep their images private and have only shared images of families who gave us permission to do so.

We must give a special shout out to the incredible photographers who donated their time and talents: David DiNisco, Kris Rae Orlowski, Lisa Seidel, and Emily Tebbetts.  You all rock!!

Stay tuned for another post soon about our second annual Forever Family Portrait Day!

If you would like to know more about adoption and the MANY children in Massachusetts who are waiting to find their forever home, the best place to start is with the Massachusetts Adoption Resource Exchange.