What are Adoption Profiles Provided by Adoptive Families?

Adoption profiles (resumes or scrapbooks) made up of picture are an adoptive family’s creative way of giving birth parents a brief glimpse into the world their child would experience. Birth parents generally review multiple adoption profiles of the potential adoptive families in order to determine which family may be best for placement of their child. Each adoption profile will be unique to each adoptive family. Below you will find some ideas that help guide adoptive parents to their forever family by way of their picture adoption profile.

Supplies – photos of the potential adoptive family (no professional photos can be copies), colored paper (purchased at scrapbook stores, Pat Catans, JoAnn Fabrics, and Michaels), glue sticks, and stickers.

Cover – This is the birth parents first impression of your family. First impressions are very important. Wedding photos or casual photos make a great cover. Cover photos should resemble what you look like now. Colorful paper is recommended.

First Pages – Birth parents like to know you as individuals. This is your opportunity to show how unique you are. One page per person in immediate family is recommended. (Pages should flow with color and be front to back. We learn to read left to right, so have all pages follow that same outline). Caption all photos.

About Us – This is who you are as a couple. Wedding photos are a good example. If you chose to add a photo of your home please just show the outside and/or yard space. Inside photos are not recommended. All pages should flow with color.

Children – Many of our adoptive families are looking to add to their family size. We recommend one or two pages be dedicated to any children you may currently have.

Extended Families – Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins are vital to the family structure. It is important for the birth parents to know how supported you are. Please label all family members.

Pets – Birth parents like to see pets. Label all photos.

Vacations/Family Time – Travel, picnics, and gatherings are a great way to show birth parents activities you enjoy. There are wonderful papers for these pages. Be creative.

Ending – There are several avenues to follow for your ending. This will be the birth parents last impression of your family so it also is very important. Blank birth announcements, poems, nursery photo, and/or a family photo, with an empathy or thank you statements, are some suggestions.

Frequent Mistakes – In the day of computer and digital photos, many have the opportunity to do all photos and copying on the computer. We have found that in cropping photos many faces become distorted, the print discolored, and even though we can add clip art, many pages have too much white.

Too many pages can become overwhelming to birth parents. We suggest between 10-15 pages.

If you are adding to your forever family it is important to include your children, however be sure the birth parents have a good idea of who you are as individuals.

DO NOT laminate all pages. This becomes costly to the adoptive families and our agency for mailing purposes. Clear covers and card stock are recommended for the front and back of the profile.

Upon completion of you picture profile, we recommend we preview your profile before printing. You can schedule an appointment or mail a hard copy to the office. When approved, please have 3-5 color copies spiral bound with a clear cover mailed or dropped off at the office. Keep in mind, the profile must be able to fit into a 10x13 envelope. Kinkos, Office Max and Staples have all done many picture profiles for our families.