An adoption profile is generally what an expectant mother looks at when she is making an adoption plan. If the expectant mother is working with an agency, these profiles are generally given to her by the agency. They are short books which contain a whole bunch of info and pictures of the potential adoptive family. Adoption profiles can also be posted online, and many expectant mothers are turning to the internet to find potential adoptive families.
We were given a list of information that needed to be in the profile, such as our age, occupation, religious beliefs, and information about our family. We were also told we couldn’t go over a specific number of pages, that the book needed to have a soft cover, and that we needed to order at least 15 to send to the agency so they could have more than one expectant mother looking at us. Naturally, we ordered 30 so we could use some for our rotary presentation. And when we didn’t get many of those back, we ordered 30 more – so if you know of someone looking to make an adoption plan, feel free to ask us for a profile, we have plenty!
Unlike the information about the home study, there were SO much information about building the profile that I was overwhelmed. I felt so much pressure to find the perfect pictures and say the perfect things that I procrastinated getting started. Once I did start, I spent far too much time on each section.
I’ve met a few people who are going through this process right now, and they’ve asked for advice because I’ve been through it already. Here’s what I wish I’d realized when I first started the process:
It’s not going to be perfect. You’re never going to find the “perfect” picture or write the “perfect” sentence – You’re trying to be authentic so you can connect with the ONE expectant mother who is looking for someone like you.
We recently went to an in-person seminar with our adoption agency, and they had two birth mothers speak at the end of the seminar. I learned so much from their stories, and I’m grateful they were willing to share with us. They were asked how they decided on the adoptive families they made their adoption plan with, and both women said they felt they were able to get to know the families through their profiles. Both birthmothers were looking for different things: One of the them had very bad allergies and didn’t want to place her child in a home with a cat because she knew her son would most likely have an allergy to cats. One birthmother wanted her child to be the oldest child, so she looked for families who didn’t have other kids already – The other woman wanted to know the family already knew what they were doing, so she looked for families who already had a child. There’s no way you’re going to be everything to everyone, so just try to be as authentic as possible.
Double check before you start. Be SURE to pay attention to the requirements the agency gives you BEFORE you start making the profile – I started using Shutterfly because I’d used it before and felt comfortable with the software. Unfortunately, Shutterfly does not have any soft cover photo book options with the required number of pages for our agency, and their customer service agents don’t have a way to change the number of pages either. I had to start all over again with a different company (after spending a few weeks on the Shutterfly book). I ended up using Mixbook, which turned out a lot better in the end because their templates are so much more customizable than Shutterfly. Also, they always have sales going on, and nothing makes me feel better than shopping with a discount code.
If you’re curious about our profile, take a look at the information under the “Get to Know Us” section on this website – it’s the digital copy of the information from our physical profile book which is at our adoption agency, waiting to be shown to an expectant mother.