Wherever you are in your domestic infant adoption journey, there is something we all can do to make our profiles better. If you are wondering what a profile is, check out my earlier post here.
My wife and I recently started revising our profile, which got me thinking about and researching ways to improve it. We thought that our profile letter and pictures had captured our lives pretty well.
After talking with one of our adoption coordinators, we knew we could make our profile even better.
Here are 3 things you can do to improve your profile:
1. Revise your adoption profile letter.
If you are like us, we almost agonize over our choice of words because we want to capture our true lives in a very descriptive way – yet keep it short enough that a potential birthmother won’t fall asleep while reading it.
We’ve found that simple, everyday short stories can really tell a lot about your family life.
For example, in our letter we share about how our adopted daughter wants to hear “her story” every night after bedtime prayers. The story is how she became part of our family through adoption.
It’s a small thing – something that is very routine and natural to us. We don’t know for sure, but the story could touch the heart of a expectant mom because it focuses on our experience with adoption and how we want our children to know how they came to be part of our family.
Think about some stories like this in your lives that you can add to your letter. Maybe it is how you love to spend time with your niece or nephew, or a funny thing your pet does, or how you celebrate your favorite holiday. These can be great additions to your letter that capture your real, everyday life.
2. Update your pictures.
The type and quality of your pictures are very important to your profile. Take a look at how your pictures match what you are talking about in your letter to an expectant mom.
Make sure that you capture some action shots – where you are doing something such as skiing, or on a vacation posing with Mickey Mouse, or throwing a football with your nephews, etc. If you can, have a professional photographer take the pictures for you. This will make a big difference in your first impression.
PHOTO TIP: you can significantly improve your photos by including a caption. Many expectant moms will read the photo captions more than the whole profile letter. Captions will identify who is in the photo and what you are doing.
3. Order and hand out adoption pass along cards.
Think of these cards as your “mini-profile”. They are about the size of business cards – so you can easily use them to promote your adoption plans.
They usually show pictures, some quick points about who you are and your excitement about adopting, your website address and other contact information. Consider giving them to your friends, family, co-workers, and people at your church. You can also give a handful of them to your local crisis pregnancy center or adoption attorney.
There are profile design websites such as Little Blessings Adoption where you can have cards printed.
As you are updating your profile, you may find yourself wanting to make the “perfect” profile. Let me tell you now, there is no such thing. You need to show your real life in your words, pictures, audio and video – however boring or goofy you may think you are.
Expectant mothers have different hopes and dreams for their child. You don’t know how she will find and connect with you.
She may love the fact that you have a great big extended family, or that you look like her relatives, or that you have taken a vacation to the place she has always dreamed of going to. You have to be who you are and let God make the connection.
Want even more help to make a great adoption profile? Get this book…
How to Create a Successful Adoption Portfolio This is a step-by-step guide to creating a portfolio that will reflect your personality, make a strong positive impact and encourage the right birth family to choose you.
Click here to listen to the interview I did with Madeleine about her adoption story along with tips to create a successful profile.
