The Adoption Profile is one of the most important parts of the domestic adoption process! But why?
It is hard for me to often express how important I (Katie: CEO/Founder of Purl) believe the adoption profile is in a domestic adoption journey. We find that many prospective adoptive families believe this is an area they can save money in their adoption process, or they think they have some design background so they can pull it off better than a professional designer. But I find typically that families that are creating their own adoption profile, or using an inexperienced profile designer, wait much longer in their adoption journey than families that have a great profile.
Why is the Adoption Profile so important?
The Adoption Profile is typically how you are chosen by an expectant mom, or expectant parents, choosing adoption for their child. Many people outside of the adoption world don’t even realize that an expectant mother or expectant parents choose the adoptive parents for their child. You may have watched the Red Table Talk where Jada Pinkett Smith and her mother, Adrienne Banfield Norris, hosted former “Sex and the City” star Kristin Davis for a talk about transracial adoption. I really enjoyed this podcast and think it can help many families considering transracial adoption. However, one thing I found really interesting about this podcast was that both Jada and her mom were very surprised that the birth mothers of Kristin’s two African-American children had actually chosen Kristin to raise their babies. That made me realize that there are probably many other people who don’t understand the domestic adoption process, and how adoptive parents are typically chosen by an expectant family considering adoption for their child – usually through the use of the very important adoption profile.
The Domestic Adoption Process generally is what makes the profile so important
Typically, an expectant mother or couple considering adoption will contact an attorney or agency to help them locate a family looking to adopt, if they don’t already know of someone who may be interested in adopting their child. There are many different adoption attorneys and agencies across the country and they all operate slightly differently. Some state laws only allow licensed adoption agencies in their state to help choose an adoptive family, while in other states adoption attorneys can help with that selection process. However, in most cases, the expectant family considering adoption is presented with the “adoption profile” of families looking to adopt.
In most cases, the prospective adoptive family typically does not meet the expectant family in person before they are chosen, instead, they are just “presented” to that expectant family through an adoption profile. These adoption profiles are generally scrapbooks about the prospective adoptive family, where an expectant family considering adoption can learn more about a prospective adoptive family’s story, their thoughts on adoption, and their plans for the future. These profiles typically contain information about the prospective adoptive family, how they met, if they have any kids, what type of house/neighborhood/community they live in, what their extended families look like, if they have any pets, and why they are choosing adoption as a way to grow their family. In the profiles designed by Purl, we typically include fun facts about the couple that make them unique, as those unique facts are often why an expectant family is drawn to a particular prospective adoptive couple.
Fun Facts About Adoptive Families
Prospective adoptive families usually have been given some information about the possible adoption situation, facts like the due date of the child, the race of the child, what type of adoption the expectant family wants (usually open or semi-open, but occasionally closed), who is involved in the adoption plan (whether both the expectant mother and expectant father are making that decision), whether there has been any prenatal care or if there are any known medical issues, whether there has been any drugs or alcohol used during the pregnancy, and what the total cost is of the adoption. Then, those prospective adoptive parents make a decision whether to be “presented” to the expectant family, which means that they are generally committing to moving forward with that adoption if they are chosen.
Oftentimes, an expectant family will spend a lot of time reviewing the family profiles of the families that have presented before making a decision. In other cases, an expectant family is immediately drawn to one family and chooses them immediately to be the adoptive parents for their child. Once an initial choice is made, the adoption professional usually arranges a meeting or call between the expectant family and the prospective adoptive parents to confirm the choice of them as potential adoptive parents. Once the expectant family confirms their choice in prospective adoptive families, the adoption professionals typically call that a “match”. In many cases, the prospective adoptive family develops a relationship with the expectant family for the rest of the pregnancy, which can often make it more comfortable for the expectant family to consent to the adoption after the child is born.
At Purl, we create an Adoption Profile that works with many different adoption professionals
Adoption profiles can come in different formats, but typically adoption profiles are booklets that are between 4-30 pages. At Purl, we recommend a 16-page magazine style, saddle stitch bound booklet. We always recommend families have a printed profile, as well as an e-Profile (typically a PDF under 10 MB), but some other professionals want profiles in a website format. Different professionals will use different styles to show the expectant families they are working with when they are ready to choose a family for their child. You’ll need to check with the adoption agency or attorney that you are working with to ensure they don’t have any specific requirements for their family profiles. Purl uses a template style profile, which allows families to have a beautiful profile quickly and less expensively than using a professional custom profile designer. But we have 17 styles to choose from, so families look unique and can choose a style that fits them. We can also customize our profiles specifically to meet the requirements for a specific attorney/agency.
It can be tempting to create your own adoption profile and save money on the profile design, particularly if you have a design background, or know someone who does. Just keep in mind that a family profile is not your typical marketing brochure. You may not get chosen because it is the most aesthetically pleasing, but instead you’ll be chosen because someone connects with some part of your story. Sometimes the most attractive prospective adoptive families, with the most perfect professional photos, homes or families can wait longer than someone who used only candid or non-professional shots, because they were better able to connect with the expectant families reading those books. So whatever you do, be you, and tell your story in the most authentic way and we see our families get chosen faster when they have a professionally designed profile. We encourage you to reach out and talk to us about designing your adoption profile, as we know what really works for prospective adoptive families. As part of our 2023 Fall Sale, we are offering a discount today only of $250 off any a la carte Profile Design Services. Here’s some other blogs we have written on the adoption profile that can help you with this process:
The Adoption Profile is one of the most important parts of the domestic adoption process! But why?
It is hard for me to often express how important I (Katie: CEO/Founder of Purl) believe the adoption profile is in a domestic adoption journey. We find that many prospective adoptive families believe this is an area they can save money in their adoption process, or they think they have some design background so they can pull it off better than a professional designer. But I find typically that families that are creating their own adoption profile, or using an inexperienced profile designer, wait much longer in their adoption journey than families that have a great profile.
Why is the Adoption Profile so important?
The Adoption Profile is typically how you are chosen by an expectant mom, or expectant parents, choosing adoption for their child. Many people outside of the adoption world don’t even realize that an expectant mother or expectant parents choose the adoptive parents for their child. You may have watched the Red Table Talk where Jada Pinkett Smith and her mother, Adrienne Banfield Norris, hosted former “Sex and the City” star Kristin Davis for a talk about transracial adoption. I really enjoyed this podcast and think it can help many families considering transracial adoption. However, one thing I found really interesting about this podcast was that both Jada and her mom were very surprised that the birth mothers of Kristin’s two African-American children had actually chosen Kristin to raise their babies. That made me realize that there are probably many other people who don’t understand the domestic adoption process, and how adoptive parents are typically chosen by an expectant family considering adoption for their child – usually through the use of the very important adoption profile.
The Domestic Adoption Process generally is what makes the profile so important
Typically, an expectant mother or couple considering adoption will contact an attorney or agency to help them locate a family looking to adopt, if they don’t already know of someone who may be interested in adopting their child. There are many different adoption attorneys and agencies across the country and they all operate slightly differently. Some state laws only allow licensed adoption agencies in their state to help choose an adoptive family, while in other states adoption attorneys can help with that selection process. However, in most cases, the expectant family considering adoption is presented with the “adoption profile” of families looking to adopt.
In most cases, the prospective adoptive family typically does not meet the expectant family in person before they are chosen, instead, they are just “presented” to that expectant family through an adoption profile. These adoption profiles are generally scrapbooks about the prospective adoptive family, where an expectant family considering adoption can learn more about a prospective adoptive family’s story, their thoughts on adoption, and their plans for the future. These profiles typically contain information about the prospective adoptive family, how they met, if they have any kids, what type of house/neighborhood/community they live in, what their extended families look like, if they have any pets, and why they are choosing adoption as a way to grow their family. In the profiles designed by Purl, we typically include fun facts about the couple that make them unique, as those unique facts are often why an expectant family is drawn to a particular prospective adoptive couple.
Fun Facts About Adoptive Families
Prospective adoptive families usually have been given some information about the possible adoption situation, facts like the due date of the child, the race of the child, what type of adoption the expectant family wants (usually open or semi-open, but occasionally closed), who is involved in the adoption plan (whether both the expectant mother and expectant father are making that decision), whether there has been any prenatal care or if there are any known medical issues, whether there has been any drugs or alcohol used during the pregnancy, and what the total cost is of the adoption. Then, those prospective adoptive parents make a decision whether to be “presented” to the expectant family, which means that they are generally committing to moving forward with that adoption if they are chosen.
Oftentimes, an expectant family will spend a lot of time reviewing the family profiles of the families that have presented before making a decision. In other cases, an expectant family is immediately drawn to one family and chooses them immediately to be the adoptive parents for their child. Once an initial choice is made, the adoption professional usually arranges a meeting or call between the expectant family and the prospective adoptive parents to confirm the choice of them as potential adoptive parents. Once the expectant family confirms their choice in prospective adoptive families, the adoption professionals typically call that a “match”. In many cases, the prospective adoptive family develops a relationship with the expectant family for the rest of the pregnancy, which can often make it more comfortable for the expectant family to consent to the adoption after the child is born.
At Purl, we create an Adoption Profile that works with many different adoption professionals
Adoption profiles can come in different formats, but typically adoption profiles are booklets that are between 4-30 pages. At Purl, we recommend a 16-page magazine style, saddle stitch bound booklet. We always recommend families have a printed profile, as well as an e-Profile (typically a PDF under 10 MB), but some other professionals want profiles in a website format. Different professionals will use different styles to show the expectant families they are working with when they are ready to choose a family for their child. You’ll need to check with the adoption agency or attorney that you are working with to ensure they don’t have any specific requirements for their family profiles. Purl uses a template style profile, which allows families to have a beautiful profile quickly and less expensively than using a professional custom profile designer. But we have 17 styles to choose from, so families look unique and can choose a style that fits them. We can also customize our profiles specifically to meet the requirements for a specific attorney/agency.
It can be tempting to create your own adoption profile and save money on the profile design, particularly if you have a design background, or know someone who does. Just keep in mind that a family profile is not your typical marketing brochure. You may not get chosen because it is the most aesthetically pleasing, but instead you’ll be chosen because someone connects with some part of your story. Sometimes the most attractive prospective adoptive families, with the most perfect professional photos, homes or families can wait longer than someone who used only candid or non-professional shots, because they were better able to connect with the expectant families reading those books. So whatever you do, be you, and tell your story in the most authentic way and we see our families get chosen faster when they have a professionally designed profile. We encourage you to reach out and talk to us about designing your adoption profile, as we know what really works for prospective adoptive families. As part of our 2023 Fall Sale, we are offering a discount today only of $250 off any a la carte Profile Design Services. Here’s some other blogs we have written on the adoption profile that can help you with this process:
