Designing an Adoptive Family Profile book
Waiting for a match can be one of the most difficult and uncertain phases in the adoption process. No matter how long the wait is – it can feel like an eternity. In infant adoptions, the child’s biological mother has the unique experience of selecting the family that will parent her child. One of the simplest ways to decrease your wait time is by creating a thoughtful, informative, and authentic Adoptive Family Profile book.
An adoptive family profile book is the first opportunity a pregnant mother will have to get to know you and your family; before she ever speaks to you, she will view your family profile. A well-designed profile will include lots of pictures and day-to-day information about you. The things you choose to include should give her a clear picture of your life and, in turn, what her child’s life would look like in your family.
As often as possible, address the mother directly through your profile book. When you are first notified of a potential match, you may want to write a personal letter to the person viewing your profile. Knowing that you see her and care for her will make your profile more memorable and show her how loving you are.
1. Your Family & Community
A great place to start in your adoptive family profile book is right where you started! Share the story of how you met, grew up, and felt about each other. Being sincere is important; you don’t have to write a memoir, but being open about yourselves increases the likelihood that the person reading your profile will feel comfortable being open with you. Try to add specific details; if you and your partner met in college and spent the first two weeks of your relationship eating ramen and studying for finals on a dorm room floor, write that! The more someone can visualize your profile, the better.
Include this information in your adoptive family profile book if you have other children, a large extended family, beloved pets, or a tight-knit friend group. Strong family values and relationships show that you can rise to the challenge of maintaining a healthy adoption triad. It also shows her that you have a village ready to raise her child!
2. Your Lifestyle
This information will help build the framework for what a day in your life looks like. This will likely include information about your job and work schedule. When talking about work, the most important thing is how your job will relate to parenting. For instance, if you work in real estate, it is probably not important to talk about the type of properties you sell, but it would be important to mention that you have a flexible schedule.
You’ll also want to talk about your hobbies, interests, and traditions in your adoptive family profile book. What do you do when you come home at night? Do you have family dinners on weeknights? Do you try a new restaurant every Thursday? How do you spend weekends? This is the time to talk travel, sports, painting, and however else you have fun! Sharing your family traditions is also a great way to help a mother visualize her child’s life with you: tell stories about the chili cook-off your family for Thanksgiving or how you always spend the 4th of July boating.
These are the elements that are most likely to attract a mother to your family, and you will likely find that whoever you match with shares some (or many) of your interests.
3. Your Relationship to Adoption
People are led to the decision to adopt for a wide variety of reasons and approach the issue of adoption in a variety of ways. Sharing your reasons for choosing adoption and your journey so far will help her understand your feelings and motivations. Address how you plan to explain adoption to your child(ren) in the future. Most mothers want to feel reassured that their child will know they made a loving choice in their child’s best interest.
Remember that at this point, she may still feel unsure or insecure about making an adoption plan, and when you speak about the child, it should be clear that you perceive the child as hers and her as the child’s mother. No one comes to the decision to make an adoption plan flippantly, and being loving towards her & sensitive towards her relationship with her child is of the utmost importance in building a healthy adoption triad.
Other Tips:
- The ratio of photos to words should be about 50/50 and should be clustered with other related information.
- Use positive adoption language and make supportive statements toward the mother and her selfless choice to make an adoption plan in your adoptive family profile book.
- Many people feel they should include statistics about local schools and neighborhoods, and though this information may be useful, it is not nearly as important as conveying who you are at the core.
- Be as open & authentic as possible! The healthiest adoption triads are made up of people who sincerely like each other. To find the best match for you, the person viewing your profile must see who you are
- Check the background of your photos for unsightly or controversial elements such as alcohol & tobacco products or clutter.
- Have a supportive third party look over your profile and make suggestions.
