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Hello Barbara,
I apologize for the long delay in posting a reply to your request for a critique. The problem you have is in your resource photo, in my opinion. It is very obviously a staged studio photo, with studio photographer lighting and posing. These things are not condusive to what a portrait painter wants and needs. What you need, for your purposes, in a photo is some way to indicate form and volume so that you can make the head come alive; otherwise, no matter how well you do it, it will just look like you traced and painted the photo. There are many ways to manage this kind of lighting and you should read all the materials on the Forum about lighting and photographing your subject.
I wouldn't be deterred from the fact that the children are older and have changed. If you take the photo yourself you will have much more control over the entire process, as well as get to meet them and incorporate their personalities into your interpretation.
I hope I haven't been too discouraging. Just about everybody who posts here has been given a photo like this one (or, believe me, much worse) and has been asked to come up with something.
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