Be happy at your opportunity to present your family to a prospective birth mother. Whatever information you choose for your adoption profile, choose to be honest. Do share photos. Pass along information about your surrounding area. Give specifics of your story and what led you to adoption. Offer these details as your search for prospective birth parents culminates with the evaluation of the profile book they may hold in their hands or read on the other side of a computer screen.
Your profile will be the first impression expectant mothers have of your family, your life, and your environments. They will learn of your heart, your motivations, what kind of parent you will become, and the type of lifestyle you could give to their child. Most importantly, be honest in your depictions of who you are and how you are represented. As you await being chosen by a prospective birth parent, your profile will eventually strike a connection that, in many cases, you will want to continue as the child grows. Be forthcoming and truthful when composing the details of a profile that will embody your family’s personality and the setting by which you live. And include these ten important details in your adoption profile to help tell your story to prospective birth parents:
1. Pictures of your family
High-quality pictures are a good start for the compilation of photos. Include a variety of friendly, relaxed shots of everyone in your family to illustrate the beginning of your story. These are the “who” photos.
2. Images depicting your life
Provide a synopsis of your life using high-quality pictures. What are your family’s hobbies? What places do you frequent with your family members? Show what your family is like by sending these photos of your activities and pastimes.
3. Representations of your interests
Along with your action photos, you can include images of your family’s interests such as the family farm or a sports team you enjoy. Your interests will also include your belief system and values your family holds. What fills your life, and how can you include representations of those in your profile book?
4. A letter to prospective birth parents
Addressing a letter to a prospective birth parent is a way to catch their attention and better explain your family’s story. This letter can include many of the details below to assist in the decision the prospective birth parents will be making.
5. Connections you have with adoption
Many prospective birth parents are eager to learn of any connections you may have with adoption in the past. Whether someone in your family was adopted, you have friends who have adopted, or you want to be the first in your family to open your hearts to adoption and hope that more follow, sharing these details may provide a connection with an expectant parent when they are considering the options for their own child.
6. Why you are choosing adoption
What is the reason that has brought you to begin this journey of adoption? Was infertility your driving force to choose parenting through adoption? Is adoption your choice because you have known others who have done the same? Is your heart for children needing a family to raise them? Explain the why of your adoption decision.
7. Your dreams for the future
A parent gives much thought to their child’s future, even when that parent cannot care for their child. How can you describe your family’s dreams for what the future may hold and how to achieve these dreams? Maybe you plan to move to a larger house with a big backyard when the child is older, or you may hope for your child to be raised surrounded by family. Share what you believe your future to look like with prospective birth parents so they can envision that for their child, too.
8. Your ideas on parenting
If this will be your first child, offer what type of parent you hope to be for him/her. For more experienced parents who have other children already, write about what you have learned parenting your other children and how you plan to build upon that wisdom for this child.
9. Details of your environment
Give a potential birth parent a mental image of the community in which you live. If there are parks, describe their whereabouts in relation to where you live. Is your town large or small? Does it have good school systems and sports teams to be a part of? Drawing this picture will give the prospective birth parent a good idea of where the child would be raised.
10. Additional specifics that set your family apart
If you have a funny story about how you and your spouse met or maybe an interesting trade your family does, highlight this detail to show how your family may stand out among the other profiles the expectant mother will be reading alongside yours.
Managing the creation of an adoption profile is one of the most important and sometimes most difficult parts of presenting your family to prospective birth parents. At American Adoptions, an adoption professional and media specialist will be assisting you as your adoption profile is created. Contact them for more tips and how to get started today.
