OT: Photography Question

Submitted by mongoose0614 on
I know there are a ton of photography gurus so I thought I would ask the smartest group of people I know of the web....
 

My good friend has a granddaughter who is adopted. She made a comment that the thing that bothers her more than anything else is that she doesn't have any baby photographs because she was adopted at age 5 from a foster home. Is there anything that could be done to "create" what she would like look as a baby by using current photos. We would like to be able to find a way to create baby photos for her.

I am looking for the reverse of the "aging" software type of program or technology that a crime lab or missing persons would use.
 
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TheGhostofChappuis

August 4th, 2013 at 5:16 PM ^

Nobody took a picture of the kid when she was a baby?  You might have better luck trying to track down an actual photo.  It worked for Joe Dirt.

Joined: 07/13/2013

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GoWings2008

August 4th, 2013 at 5:17 PM ^

 programs that I've seen were usually used by law enforcement, but I'm thinking that you can find them online at this point.  Howevah...going in reverse?  That seems to be a stretch.  I'm fairly informed, but I could be wrong.  Know any cops?

Joined: 01/26/2011

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mongoose0614

August 4th, 2013 at 5:23 PM ^

I thought about that as well.  I have a friend whose wife works in forensics at the Oakland Cty Sherriffs dept.

At this point I am thinking I may end up reccomending searching public profiles and images from google, snapfish, flickr etc and see if we can create some photos that "could" be her.  

We are trying to plug a hole in her heart and hope she likes the effort.  It is hard on her to see her two siblings baby pictures all over the house.

Joined: 01/12/2009

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ssbeaulieu70

August 4th, 2013 at 6:26 PM ^

Woo-hoo!  My time to shine.  This should be more of an adoption question as opposed to a photography question.  As the father of two beautiful adopted daughters from China, we ran into this situation with our youngest, who was brought home when she was three.  My wife an I collectively read a dozen adoption books, and all of them suggest the following: Do NOT attempt to create/fabricate a history for adoptive children who are void of any visual history.  The more appropriate response would be "I'm very sorry; we have no photos of you as a baby.  Here's what you may have looked like." If she's African decent, show pictures of infant African decent infants, etc.  Creating history sets a bad precedent and has the potential to blow up in the adoptive parents' face.  Short of working with the adoption agency to find actual photos, honesty is the best route to follow.  I highly suggest viewing the documentary "Somewhere in between."  It deals with similar situations.  Hope this helps.

Joined: 07/22/2013

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Eric

August 4th, 2013 at 9:43 PM ^

 

I was actually hoping that this would be a photography question. However, in addition to being the MGoPhotographer, my wife and I are the proud parents of 3 children adopted from the foster system. We are also foster parents. You are spot on correct in what you're saying. It would be a very, very bad idea to try to create a false history for the child. 

Also, to address the comment from above. I'd be willing to bet that the foster home has plenty of photos of the child. Just because she was adopted from a foster home at age 5, doesn't' mean she was there since birth. That's actually not very likely at all. She may not have entered the foster system until age 4. It is very common to not have baby photos of a child that is in the foster system. Parents that have their children removed normally aren't too worried about taking photos of their babies. They are more worried about where their next fix is coming from. Also, contrary to the statement above, foster parents in our area are encouraged to keep a scrap book for the child. We have tons of photos of all children that we have fostered. Obviously, not all foster homes are created equal, but they should have some photos from when she came to live with them. 

Either way, congrats to the adoptive family! I wish you the best of luck! Our 3 children have been the biggest blessing in our life and I hope it's the same way for you!

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