Ep 9: 5 Tips to Create an Amazing Adoption Profile

Show Notes
Episode 9

In this Episode Heather discusses:

• 5 Adoption Profile Tips
• The value of being "real" in your adoption journey
• The importance of respecting birth parents
• Funding your adoption

Links Mentioned: fortheloveofadoption.com

Hello, welcome to episode nine of the for the love of adoption Show. Today we are going to be talking about five tips when creating your adoption profile. Whether this is physical, digital or both, it will be completely unique to your family.

So before we get into the tips, let me just clarify what an adoption profile is, why it's used and just what to expect. So when a birth mother chooses to pursue adoption, she obviously has so many decisions to make, but most likely the biggest and most difficult is choosing the right family. So to help her make this decision, she'll receive a selection of family profiles to look through. And again, this could be in physical form, or it could be digital or both. For us, we just prepared an actual physical book, but a lot of times, these are done online as well. And adoptive family profile is basically an introduction to your family, your home and your life.

When your family is a potential fit for specific birth parents or birth mom, which can be based on your preferences and different things, then your profile may be one that she views. This is how the birth parents may initially decide if you might be a good fit to adopt their child. Again, we created a physical profile book, but you could also create an online or video profile and this could increase your reach to potential birth mothers. If you're working with an adoption agency, they can likely help you with this and show you some examples. But I have heard from prospective adoptive parents that are working with an agency and they still really needed some tips on how to make their profile the best that it could be. So here we go.

Here are five tips that you can follow to help your profile standout number one, speak directly to the birth parents. Write a letter at the beginning of your profile acknowledge that what they are going through is more difficult than you could ever understand and remember that what will be a very joyous day for you will likely be one of the hardest of her life if not the hardest. So explain to her that she is loved and respected. Realize that when she reads this, the baby is still hers and she's trying to decide what is best and who is best to raise her child.

When writing about her use phrasing like considering adoption. Instead of choosing adoption and always refer to the unborn child as her baby, not yours. Write this letter from a place of sincerity expressing that you want what's best for her and the child. Let that come through in your letter. Be real and genuine show love and again realize that at this point, this is her child. She's deciding whether to move forward with adoption and whether or not you might be someone she wants to possibly move forward with.

Tip number two, paint a picture. Show her what life with you will be like for her child, this woman or possibly this couple who is in the process of making again the hardest decision of their life wants to know that this child will be well loved and taken care of. But she likely wants even more than that she wants to picture the life her child will have with you. Let her in on what that life will be like what traditions are you excited to continue or start? What kind of parents will you be? Are there certain activities you're excited to participate in with your child? Give her a peek into what she will not physically be there to experience be descriptive. Help her really imagine your life instead of something vague like we like to garden, say something like we spend Saturday afternoons picking flowers from our garden to enjoy for the week, we're excited to share a love of gardening.

Tip number three, use great photos. This does not mean you need Instagram Perfect pictures, fake looking pictures for all of your images. Start by looking through your photos. Find fun ones that show special occasions or vacations and holidays. Instead of just picking the prettiest ones. Choose ones that show real life that show fun and demonstrate hobbies you love and show your personality. birth mom or birth parents are more concerned with the kind of person you are in the type of parent you'll be than how perfect looking you are. Think about your day to day life and activities. Give her an idea of what it's like. Talk to your spouse about your hobbies and activities and choose some you'd like to share. If you have actual pictures of you doing these things, use them, or if needed, get some new ones taken. Again, these don't have to be perfect. So having a friend take them can work just fine. And use captions for your pictures to describe things. For example, I remember that in our profile book, we included some pictures of my husband and I when we were doing 10k. And I think we use some pictures of us hiking, use things like that, that show activities that you enjoy, so she can imagine the type of life her child may have. Having photos pulled together in a file before you start your profile will be a huge help. So try to gather those before you try to dive into creating it or it gets kind of overwhelming.

Look, I absolutely understand how intimidating the cost of adoption can be. When we first started considering adoption. The cost is what almost made us turn away. But I knew that I had to figure this out I had to find a way for us to be able to make this happen. So I spent so much time years figuring out how we could find our adoption, I do not want you to have to spend that much precious time getting this one aspect of adoption figured out. So out of all of that research I did I have created a funding adoption guide. It is over 20 pages long. It includes fundraising ideas, recommended adoption grants, loan options, budgeting resources and more. And just to give you a little feedback from others, Sherry said raising funds for adoption by Heather is an easy to read Practical Guide for those who have a heart for adoption, but may be hesitant to move forward due to lack of finances. This is a must read for those desiring to turn their dream of adopting a child and becoming parents into a reality information that took us few years to glean all laid out in this one resource, it will truly give you a jumpstart in your own adoptive journey. Tammy said the information contained in this book is invaluable. There are so many different ways to raise funds and grants that are available. The author has shared these because of her passion for adoption. And then finally Dawn, she used to work for an adoption agency and that this is such a needed topic, it was so heartbreaking to see people not be able to adopt because of the cost. So look, guys, I get it, the cost can be extremely expensive and intimidating. And it can be what keeps you from moving forward. Do not let that be what keeps you from moving forward. This guide will help you get moving. If funding adoption is what's holding you back to check it out, go to for the love of adoption.com and then shop at the top of the page, and then look for the raising funds for adoption guide. I'm here to support you in your adoption journey. And I know that cost is a big aspect of that for so many. So I'm excited to hear how this helps you.

Tip number four, be honest. Just like you want to use real pictures, you should also show the real you don't feel like you have to portray your family in a particular way. Based on what you think the birth mom would prefer. You do not know what she's thinking. And this is not the time to be fake. Keep it real. You also don't know what connection will be made that you couldn't even imagine birth moms choose certain families for all types of reasons you can never even imagine. For example, one birth mom chose her family because the type of dog they had our children's birth mom was attracted to the fact that she saw what she said was a hippyish five and she liked that true story. And she liked it. My husband is a horticulturist and we use real pictures that showed that otherwise she wouldn't have known. You never know what will attract the birth parents that you choose. So just be real.

Tip number five, make your profile attractive, even though you want to keep it real, it should be put together. Well. If you're creating a profile book on your own, you can use a company like MixBook or Shutterfly. Once you have it all laid out, you can review a digital proof and maybe even have a friend look over it. Or if you're working with an agency, you could even ask them to look over it, we were really happy with the result we accomplished using MixBook. But don't let this stuff hold you back, take some time to put it together in a way that makes you excited for it to be shared. And remember, there is no one right way to make an adoption family profile. What you decide to include in your profile depends on what you think is most important for prospective birth parent to know about you, but just remember to keep it real.

And one last note I want to mention is if you are working with an agency, they are likely going to have a checklist for you in regards to creating your profile that includes certain things that you want to make sure you put in your adoption profile. So if you're working with an agency, be sure to get that from them. So you don't go through all of the effort of creating the profile, and then leaving out things that you need to have included. By following these steps. You really can make an amazing adoption profile that really shows your life and helps describe what this child's life will be like if this birth family or birth mom decides to move forward with you.

So just to recap the five points that we talked about to make a great adoption profile number one, speak directly to the birth parents. Number two, paint a picture of your life and what this child's life will be like if they choose you. Number three, use great photos that really show your life. Number four, be honest, this is a time to be real, and let them really see who you are. And number five, make your profile attractive. I hope this helps creating an adoption profile can actually be a lot of fun. So I hope you get some value from this and go make an amazing adoption profile.

Thanks so much for listening in today. And did you know that I offer a full library of free resources to help you along on your adoption journey, and I'm always adding more. This includes downloads of grant recommendations, adoption fundraising ideas, an agency questionnaire, a hospital checklist and much more. You can find that by going to ForTheLoveOfAdoption.com and scrolling to the bottom of the homepage. And if you have an idea for something you'd love to see added to this library, please send me a message and let me know. I'm always looking for ways to help you on your adoption journey. If you enjoy Instagram, be sure to find me there @fortheloveofadoption, where I love to hang out and share live videos and plenty of adoption tips. I'm always excited to support you in your adoption journey. See you next time.