AUSTIN, Texas — Every week, KVUE's Hannah Rucker interviews a different child in Texas foster care in the hopes of spreading awareness and potentially getting that child adopted.
Filming shoots for the weekly Forever Families segments happen every Tuesday morning at 10 a.m., and small businesses are always needed to help host the shoots.
"I think we're so lucky here in Austin because there's so many locally-owned small businesses who are willing to help out," Sarah Murry with the nonprofit Partnerships for Children said. "Because every week, we are coordinating with DFPS [the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services] and caseworkers and placements to try to figure out what the kid likes and what they enjoy."
Murry said it's also a time for the child to get out and enjoy an activity so they can try to relax ahead of their interview.
"Because they're coming on TV and saying, 'I want a family,' and that's really brave. So we want to make it the most amazing thing possible for them," Murry said.
If you're interested in hosting a Forever Families shoot, you can email sarah.murry@partnershipsforchildren.org.
KVUE launched the Forever Families segment with Partnerships for Children (PFC) in June 2020 to highlight children in the Heart Gallery of Central Texas who need secure and permanent families. Every day, there are nearly 1,000 children waiting to get adopted in Central Texas, according to PFC.
Editor's note: The children who are in the Heart Gallery program and featured in KVUE's Forever Families segments are children who have had every effort made on their behalf to connect them with family or others in their community to provide options for permanent, adoptive homes. Through no fault of their own, that hasn’t happened yet, and so in partnership with the Department of Family and Protective Services, we collaborate to bring awareness to KVUE viewers about these children in the hopes of finding them permanency before they age out.