Washington – The Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG) is re-launching a photo project to highlight and find loving homes for teenagers in foster care across the Washington region in honor of November as National Adoption Month. The PicMe Project will feature 60 second slideshows that will be promoted on the COG website (www.mwcog.org), the PicMe Project Blog and COG social media accounts among others.

Through COG’s regional adoption programs, like Wednesday’s Child which is presented by the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption and airs on NBC4, and the work of COG member jurisdictions, the number of children waiting to be adopted in our region has declined by 65 percent in the past five years, which means more children are finding permanent adoptive homes. Of the 155 children waiting to be adopted in 2013, 71 percent were teenagers.

The PicMe Project highlights those teens in foster care who may feel less comfortable with appearing on television, while providing future foster and adoptive parents an opportunity to get to see and know them. On Mondays during National Adoption Month, a new PicMe Child will be posted to the project’s website (thepicmeproject.wordpress.com), Facebook (www.facebook.com/kidsneedfamilies), and Twitter (@kidsneedafamily).

In addition to PicMe slideshows, the PicMe Network of social media users and the foster care community will attract prospective adoptive families for the featured teens. To learn more about adoption, or to join the PicMe Network, please email picme@mwcog.org.

To learn more about COG’s regional child welfare program, please visit www.mwcog.org/childwelfare

PicMe has also been covered by the media, including News Channel 8's Newstalk with Bruce DePuyt and WTOP.