My Adoption Advisor

They go by many names these days: dear birthmother letters, family profiles, parent profiles, adoption profiles, and adoption portfolios, among others. We have spent countless hours reading them and researching what many experienced attorneys, agencies, consultants, authors, birth parents, and adoptive parents state are the top tips for creating a great profile. We also have our own ideas based on personal experience.

When you look at all of the different outreach activities you can do to connect with expectant parents considering adoption and quite honestly when you look at the entire domestic adoption process, the most important element is absolutely the adoption profile. All of the networking and marketing in the world cannot overcome a lackluster adoption profile. It must stand out from the pack. Imagine reading 5, 15, or 50 of these at a time. They all start to sound alike, but that is what creates the opportunity for your profile to stand out from the others.

So how do you make your adoption profiles stand out from the rest? Here are our top 3 tips.

Tip #1 – Be Genuine

Most prospective adoptive parents think that the purpose of the adoption profile is to share information about themselves. This is only half of the equation though and not the most important half at that. In addition to sharing information about yourself, you must also paint a picture of what life would be like for a child in your family. Accomplishing these two things in a sincere and honest way is what being genuine is all about.

One of the things that gets in people’s way when it comes to being fully genuine with their adoption profile is their desire to not say something that might turn somebody off.

• “I don’t want to mention that we have a big dog because some expectant parents might not like dogs.”
• “I don’t want to highlight that we live in a small town because too many expectant parents will want more opportunities available to their children and think that a small town lacks those opportunities.”

I could list many other examples of what families have told me. Here is the advice that I offer them and you:

The goal for your adoption profile is to help you connect with just a few
expectant parents who think you are incredible, not 100
expectant parents who think you are OK.

Share enough about who you are and what you stand for and what life will be like for your child. Communicate a consistent message through your pictures, text, emails, phone calls, and in-person meetings. If you do these two things you will be in the best position to more quickly connect with just the right people.

Tip #2 – Photographs and Captions must ROCK!

The photographs and captions you put in your adoption profile, especially the first set on the front page, are frequently the determining factor in whether or not someone reads your profile – not chooses you to parent – reads your profile. At a minimum, expectant parents make initial judgments based on the pictures.

Most prospective adoptive families spend much more time writing the words of their adoption profile and not nearly enough time finding just the right photographs and writing the perfect complementary captions. As you search for pictures for your profile, imagine communicating so much information through them and the corresponding captions that the text in your profile becomes secondary and even unnecessary. When you accomplish that, you have phenomenal pictures.

The goal for your pictures and captions is to communicate so effectively
who you are and what life for a child in your family will be like
that reading the text would simply be redundant.

Here are some general guidelines:

• Make sure the picture is cropped properly so it is easy to see the faces and expressions of the people in the picture.
• Think about the lighting, color, and focus characteristics.
• Limit the scenic shots unless there is a great story to go with the picture. The fact that you got a great shot of a rainbow does not help expectant parents get to know you.
• Tell a story with your pictures. A nice head-and-shoulders shot (with smiles!) is great for the first photograph so the reader can see what you look like, but try to communicate more through other pictures. For example, a great shot of you hoisting a canoe in front of your tent on a camping trip tells a lot more about you then simply writing in your profile that you like to camp.
• Speaking of writing, captions are critical because readers will likely read them immediately after looking at a picture and before reading the entire profile. Use the caption to complement what is in the picture and to add to the story. Do not simply state in the caption what is obvious from looking at the picture (e.g. A picture of you standing in front of the Eiffel Tower with the caption “On vacation in France.”).
• Cut down or eliminate the posed, group pictures from your wedding and family reunions. You cannot see any faces and they tend not to add much to your story given the space they take up.

Tip #3 – Show More Than Tell

It is more memorable and a more interesting read when you show your values, loves, and personality through anecdotes, stories, and pictures. Do not simply report facts when you can tell a short story.

Which is more likely to make a connection with the reader:

• “Sue likes to cook.”
• “Nothing beats the sweet smell of Sue’s homemade caramel rolls fresh out of the oven on a brisk Sunday morning.”

What about these two:

• “We enjoy camping.”
• “We canoed all morning before hiking 15 miles to our campsite.”

Engage all of the senses whenever possible. Can’t you just taste those caramel rolls right now? Are your arms and legs feeling a little heavy?

For additional ideas, see even more adoption profile suggestions.

 

If you are not getting the critical feedback that you need,
read about our adoption profile review services.

Your adoption profile is too important.

Do everything you can to put your best foot forward.