Four Things You Must Put in Your Adoption Profile

Making an adoption profile seems overwhelming when you are first putting it together. It's easy to get lost in choosing the perfect picture or just the right words. Here are four simple tips that will help you find your way:

1. New pictures

Sure, you looked great 10 years ago. And that college trip to Barcelona was amazing. But potential birthparents want to see the NOW. Present your authentic self and only use pictures taken in the last year if possible - you can stretch to two or three years if you really have to. Remember, you’re going to meet a potential birthparent in person, and you don’t want them to be surprised by how you look now.

2. Your everyday life

An adoption profile is a window into the day-to-day lives that potential birthparents can give their children. It doesn’t matter if your house isn’t right out of a design magazine, show it. Do you cook a lot? Do you have a hobby? Are you a bookworm? Have your spouse/partner or a friend photograph you doing these things as if you were a celebrity doing a “Stars – They’re Just Like Us” photo shoot.

3. Perspective

Your road to adoption may have involved heartache, and that deserves respect. But an adoption profile is not the time to detail an infertility journey or the search for the right partner. You have made the decision to adopt just as a woman facing and unplanned pregnancy is considering placing her child for adoption. The focus should stay on the future – what life will be like for a child living with your family.

4. Real love

Time and again, I have heard this about a successful match: “They just seemed to love each other.” Some potential birthparents don’t have that in their lives, but they know true love when they see it. And if they see it between you and your partner or spouse, they’ll know you can share that love with their child. If you don’t have a lot of photos of you two interacting, get busy making memories. If you’re adopting on your own, you can show that love with close interactions with parents, siblings, or nieces and nephews – whoever is close to you and will be an important part of your child’s life.