John F. Kennedy, former president of the United States once said, “Children are the world’s most valuable resource and its best hope for the future.” If you are looking to provide a home for a child without one, then you are doing a really great thing. Here are some tips on adoption photolisting.
If you are interested in adopting, you may have visited an adoption photolisting site. If you haven’t, you are at the right place. Here, we are going to talk about this awesome resource in our adoption community. Adoption photolisting provides an extensive list of children waiting to be adopted. The best piece of these adoption photo listings is the photographs. Photos have the amazing ability to connect people. Pictures also have the unique ability to say what words cannot say. These photographs capture the smiles, the innocence, and the preciousness of these children. We are going to explore the adoption photo listings at Adoption.com. In an adoption photolisting, you will find lots of pictures of children waiting for a family. I guess that if you are looking to adopt, many of these photos are going to touch your heart.
Specifically, take a look at this adoption photolisting. This profile includes a picture of a sibling trio who is waiting to be adopted together. The older brother has his arms around his younger siblings. The youngest brother is wearing the cutest pair of glasses, and their sister is wearing a beautiful bow on the top of her head. All three children have the biggest smiles on their faces, and they are absolutely adorable. It seems as if their description fits their picture precisely, and they sound like an amazing group of siblings. This is a great example of what you are going to find on photo listings.
The capabilities of photo listings remind me of the time that I was searching for an adoptive family for my own baby. I read so many profiles of families that were waiting to adopt a child. Much like the adoption photo listings, these profiles included pictures and personal descriptions. So many of these profiles touched my heart, but when I came across the family that was meant to be my baby’s parents, I just knew that they were the ones. Their picture alone ignited so many of my emotions. Their picture told me a thousand words about them before I even got a chance to read about them further. Their photo made me smile, cry, and stare at them for quite a while. I fell in love with them before ever meeting them, because of their photograph. Their picture stamped my heart at first glance. This is an example of how a photo listing can lead exactly where you’ve been needing to go. If you are pregnant and looking for a family to raise, love, and nurture your baby, you can find Adoption.com’s Parent Profiles site.
Just like my experience, an adoption photo listing can speak to your heart regarding a child who is meant to be a part of your family. Other than photographs, you will find specific information in these profiles about each child. They will provide basic information on the child such as the child’s age, gender, location, and ethnicity. The child’s description will also give further details about his or her personality, likes, and needs. For example, here is a description of a 15-year-old boy from Texas named Hunter:
“Hunter is an articulate youth with big dreams. He is intelligent and works hard, making good grades in school. Hunter is interested in the arts, including sketching, graphic design, and art classes. He also has a heart for music and has recently discovered his love of the symphony. Hunter is an avid reader. He loves science fiction novels, especially book series. He likes to share his knowledge of things he has learned. An endearing attribute of Hunter’s personality is his fascination with life, both in the material and relational world. Hunter enjoys helping and being part of a group. He likes to play games such as chess, board games, and cards. He is an open-minded and very polite youth. At the same time, Hunter likes time alone to observe, think, and relax. Hunter is a gifted youth who looks forward to being engaged with his forever family. He values family connections. He desires the ongoing opportunities a forever family can offer him as he moves forward in his teenage years. Hunter’s forever family will be equipped to give him opportunities to explore his interests and meet new and exciting challenges. Hunter hopes his family will be there for him and give him the life he has always dreamed of having.“
You can find Hunter’s full profile by visiting his link.
These adoption photo listing profiles offer a variety of additional descriptions about each child such as favorite hobbies or school subjects. One great feature of this adoption photo listing is the opportunity to “favorite this child.” So, as you search through these photo listings and feel a child’s profile is calling to your heart, you can “favorite this child” by clicking a specific link. By doing this, it will make it easier to later come back to a profile that you previously visited.
Something to remember is that even though an adoption photolisting may provide a fair amount of insight into a child’s life, it does not include all of the most important details. For more specific information on a certain child, you may choose to “inquire about this child” by following the link on a child’s profile. On a child inquiry, you will be asked basic personal information such as the following: first and last name, email, telephone number, country, and zip code. You will also be asked about home study information such as your home study provider name, phone number, email, and home study date. There is also a section provided to list any additional comments or questions that you have concerning the child inquiry. This will lead you to the next step in regards to seeking more information on a certain child or children which will hopefully lead to placing a child in your family’s home.
There are quite a few different ways to search within this adoption photo listing site. On the adoption photo listing home page, you will find a search section that will focus your photo listing on the criteria you provide. There are also many different tabs provided that could help you on a search.
The “recent” tab will provide you with the most recently-submitted adoption photo listing profiles of children. The “age” tab will sort the children by age, and there is also a gender tab if you’re specifically looking to adopt a girl or a boy. The state tab filters the adoption photo listing by state. This tool is very convenient if you are looking to adopt it in your own state or area. Additionally, there is an ethnicity tab that sorts the children by many different ethnicities, and the international tab will display children that are out of the country awaiting a family. There is also an advanced search available if needed. As you can see, there are many different tools available to help anyone search through this adoption photo listing site.
If you are looking to add a child to this adoption photo listing, there is an “add children” link on the homepage that will direct you to more information. Here, it provides information for U.S. foster children which allows a U.S. agency with contact information to list a child for adoption on the website. It also provides information for an international adoption agency seeking adoptive families to list children and provides additional information regarding those details.
Adoption photolistings are very special. There is an article titled, “This Is Why Photolistings Are Important,” which talks about photo listings and their importance to children and families. In this article, Elizabeth Curry shares her story of how an adoption photo listing helped shape her forever family. After reading her story, I found it quite amazing how a photo listing completely and repeatedly impacted this woman. I know this feeling. I had the same feeling when I found my child’s adoptive parents on a photo listing. In this article, she says, “I had been around the adoption world long enough to know that her chances of finding a family were slim. I thought to myself, “Someone should adopt her,” and moved on. But I didn’t move on. I found myself returning over and over and over again to look at her pictures and read her description. It was crazy, I told myself. We had our hands full already. We didn’t have a lot of money. She had a very scary-sounding medical diagnosis. We didn’t even qualify for her country. And we were done. Yet, every day, at least once, if not more often, there I would be, staring at her picture.”
She gives an amazing example of what a photo listing is capable of. She fell in love because of a photo listing—because a child’s picture and profile tugged at her heartstrings. A photo listing changed her life, her family’s life, and children’s lives. In return, several children were impacted by becoming part of her family. This is why they are special: they bring families together.
Are you and your partner ready to start the adoption process? Visit Adoption.org or call 1-800-ADOPT-98 to begin your adoption journey. We have 130+ years of adoption experience and would love to help you.