Thank you, Barbara, for that wonderful introduction. The Freddie Mac Foundation is honored to support the work of AdoptUSKids and to partner with you in finding adoptive homes for children growing up in foster care.

I also want to thank our Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute co-chairs, Senators Craig and Landrieu and Congressman Camp. Each of these distinguished leaders serves as a voice on Capitol Hill for America’s foster children.

Let me also acknowledge the leadership that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has provided to encourage more adoptions and help more foster children become part of a family. Dr. Wade Horn, Assistant Secretary for Children and Families, thank you for your leadership and presence today.

I especially want to thank Mayor Anthony Williams for making the needs of foster care children a top priority here in the District, and for joining us here.

As I look around this room, I’m delighted to see so many advocates, leaders, friends and partners. Thank you all for being here today to see the national and local Heart Galleries and to mark the wonderful milestone reached by HHS. I hope many more children will follow the 5,000 already adopted.

As you know, November is National Adoption Awareness Month and I can’t think of a more fitting way to commemorate the start of it in the nation’s capital than to present to you and to this region the first-ever Heart Gallery devoted to the children of the Washington region, the Freddie Mac Foundation Heart Gallery.

Forty local photographers donated their time and talents to create these portraits. Thank you, to these artists, for their commitment and generosity. They managed to capture the soul…the spirit…and the light that exists within these children -- a light that is too often dimmed by despair, insecurity and waiting.

How long will they have to wait? How many foster children will go to sleep alone tonight? In an unfamiliar bed? Or even out on the streets? “Floating like plankton,” said one author, “in the wild ocean?”

I don’t have the answers. But I do know that the Heart Gallery is an important step, because it has the power to dramatically change the lives of these children.

There are 500 children waiting for adoption in the Washington area. This Heart Gallery will serve to remind us all that these children are much more than numbers. They are beautiful, loving children with stories, hobbies, talents and dreams. And, as you will read in the descriptions that accompany the photographs, for each of these children, from Artina to Xavia, the most important dream is that of a permanent and loving home.

Thousands of visitors stream through Union Station every day. And they will see what you and I see – these beautiful faces…these children who are waiting for someone to care for them, to provide a sense of hope and a sense of purpose. Maybe some of the travelers who pass through this hall will open their hearts and homes to a child in need, taking them on a wonderful journey filled with love, security and happy memories.

The Freddie Mac Foundation and the city and region of Washington, DC, have made a commitment to these children…and today is just the beginning. Their pictures will hang in Union Station for several weeks. Then the Freddie Mac Heart Gallery will find a new home at the John A. Wilson Building, which houses the Mayor’s office and the city’s administrative services. These photographs will then rotate to other venues throughout the city to keep these kids in the public eye.

The pictures and stories can also be seen on the Internet, on the Foundation’s website. We’re using every means available to us to make sure that these children have a chance of finding their forever family.

And as they find homes, new faces will be added to the exhibit.

Though the pictures will change, the Freddie Mac Foundation Heart Gallery is here to stay. It is another Freddie Mac Foundation contribution to improving the lives of the children in this region.

The Heart Gallery strengthens and expands our Foundation’s efforts to find adoptive homes for children in this region. It joins other efforts, such as:

• Wednesday’s Child, a national campaign in five cities, which has helped find adoptive homes for more than 600 children in foster care. Many of the children featured in the Heart Gallery have also appeared on Wednesday’s Child.
• Our $1 million Hurricane Katrina fund is assisting the nearly 4,000 foster children affected and displaced by the storm.
• On National Adoption Day - November 19^th – the Freddie Mac Foundation will help facilitate hundreds of adoptions throughout the country.

These initiatives are critical…but they are not enough to help all the children that need our help. More than half a million kids in this country are growing up in foster case and thousands are waiting for permanent families. Pictures of them all could cover this entire building and fill thousands of Heart Galleries.

My wish for the children featured in both the Freddie Mac Foundation Heart Gallery and the National Heart Gallery– and foster children everywhere – is that their dream will soon become a reality. That they will go to sleep each night in a warm, familiar place. That they will wake up each morning comforted by the knowledge that they have a family of their own.

I also have a wish for everyone who will pass by these photographs and consider taking one of these children in. I wish them the same joy that I have found since adopting my two daughters. Nothing I have done in my life is as important, as meaningful or as rewarding.

We all have a role to play in helping foster children find loving, permanent homes. No single person or organization can tackle this challenge alone. But I am confident that AdoptUSKids, the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute, local and federal leaders, the Freddie Mac Foundation, the Adoption Exchange and all the other foot soldiers fighting to help and protect foster children can make a difference.

Perhaps one day we can replace these photographs with an entire gallery of family portraits. I know the road toward that moment is a long one, but as I look around I see many wonderful traveling companions. And I thank you all for joining us on this journey.

It’s now my pleasure to introduce an indispensable partner in our work to improve the lives of local foster children. Mayor Anthony Williams…

It’s good to know that the District of Columbia is in hands that are not only capable, but compassionate. Since assuming the office of Mayor in November 1991, Anthony Williams has served as a passionate, effective advocate for the most vulnerable among us. He has proven his commitment to children, families and communities. He believes in possibilities and works toward positive solutions. And his leadership has been instrumental in expanding opportunities and possibilities for area foster children.

As many of you know, this is a mayor who understands why we are here today. As a young boy, Anthony Williams was adopted out of foster care by a devoted, loving family. This lifted him onto the first rung of his ladder toward success…and he has never forgotten that. He is such an incredible example of how far love and the stability of a family can carry a child.

At the Freddie Mac Foundation, we are grateful to count him as both a partner and a friend. And, today, we so appreciative for his many contributions and for his support of the Freddie Mac Foundation Heart Gallery. Thank you, Mayor Williams!

Ladies and Gentleman, it’s now my great pleasure to turn the program over to Mayor Anthony Williams.