creating a profile for birth moms to view

Congratulations on your decision to adopt! It's nice that you have the desire and ambition to develop a really nice profile. At this point, I might suggest that you contact either the agency you've chosen or the social worker that will be doing your home study (if they are separate entities) and ask them for their recommendations. I think the pictures you've gathered are a good start. You could always create the layouts and then use them somewhere else (in another album) if they didn't end up being appropriate for the profile. Most (though not all) of the layouts on my web site right now are more geared to international adoption, but I will try to change that in the near future! I've had a couple other requests from individuals in the same situation as you that are looking for the same type of layouts.

Let me tell you, it is hard to know where to start. When we saw oue social worker she showed us samples...from some lady who took construction paper, pater a picture of Bear in the Big Blue House on the frong and hand wrote in PENCIL her profile...to one professionally put together. So they ran the gamut. Well I was more confused than ever. It took a looooong time for me to create my profile for the adoption agency. First my compurt crashed and I lost all the work I had done. Then I lost my job and had the time to really work on it. We first wrote a letter to the mom then we put in a poem. Then we showed pictures of the house, us dating and our wedding, vacations, hobbies, kids & family. We put a frame around each photo and corresponding clipart PLease feel free to contact me at any time. I am here to help. I know how difficult it is. Alison

I would really check with the agency some of them have guidelines for how they want their proflies to look (number of pages, size ect.) Our agency even gave us a list of sugested topics to get us started. I also got a copy of Reaching Out by Nelson Handel. It really helped with the naration. Make sure you have nice quality pictures, and try to make them fairly recent photos. The thing every one kept telling us was make it you. It is how the potiental Birthmom's are going to get to know you. We are just putting the final touches on ours. I had a really hard time with getting started and figuring what to include. But I just kept plugging away and revising, now I am almost there. I hope this helps. If you have any questions or just want to vent just PM me.

May4u2nvme I have put a few of my pages on "You've Got Pictures" on AOL. It you would like to see them, just PM me with your e-mail and I will send you the link. But the other posters have a point, you should check to see if there are guidelines. My agency showed us samples, from the worst (construction paper and pictures cut out of magazines with writing in pencil) to the best (our friend Christine's). Alison

I am looking for examples of a Profile poster to be used with our homestudy when it is submitted for social workers to view...can anyone email me an example??

I wanted to add that I have also read Reaching Out by Nelson Handel. It helped dh and me out when we were writing our birthmother letter. I had no idea what to include and this book helped us write a great letter. Our agency gave us categories of what pictures they would like (us, family, friends, kids, pets, vacations, hobbies, etc.) They also included a number of how many of each (ex. us, 20; friends, 10). They helped us go through them. Jennifer

When I looked at profiles I pretty much disqualified couples if they appeared to showcase their home rather than their life together. The couple I chose in the end had one picture of their home and one picture of the room that would be the baby's room. The rest of the photos were them together. I also tossed some books because the couple's didnt appear to be "happy" in their photos. The couple I chose were smiling and just looking like they enjoyed each other in their photos. I also prefered the photo's of their active vacations rather than them sitting on the couch cuddling. That though I think is just me- I tend to not be very cuddly and tend to be much more active and wanted the same for the child I placed. Remember these are just my opinions. Other women considering adoption dont even consider some of those things. Also for me, religion wasnt a factor. I didnt even want to know what religion they were. I asked later and it turns out Kara's dad actully visits the jail in the area to "preach" I'm not sure if that's the right term. Anyway they are very active in their beliefs where... me... well... But anyway many women take religion into consideration. For pages I suggest one of the room the baby will be in. Only one page for your home. A page or two for any pets. A couple pages of vacations. A couple pages of family get-togethers.

Oh, in some books I noticed the last page was a Baby page. Things they wanted to do with their baby. Like what vacations they wanted to take, how they wanted to celebrate the adoption... things like that. None of them had a page for the birthmom. So I would find it very extra special to include a page at the end of what type of relationship you hope to possibly have with her. Just a thought.

As a birth mom, I was given three profiles to choose from. Mine were probably more clinical than the average as they were prepared by my Ob/ gyn (an infertility specialist). The things, at 19, which I wanted for my child included the following (in no particular order) . - physical likeness (this is important to the child as they grow up) - financial preparedness, not what tax bracket you are in, but rather that you can provide a roof over the childs head, a good schooling opportunity, and a few life experiences (I am not talking about going to disney every year, but rather your family hobbies - kayaking, camping - sitting on the beach - what ever you would do or would like to do that can include your child) - health and longevity in your family so that the child will not end up in a single parent family due to early parental death - Strong extended family - in case there is no possibility of siblings, cousins close by in a similiar age range were very important to me. -Patience and understanding (this of course, would be hard to demonstrate on paper - but none the less one of my requirements) - Educated family (you and your husband), I didn't feel as though I was comfortable with someone less than intelligent raising this child- but again, my need) - Creativity - some type (his father and I were/are both painters at the time and since this is generally manifests itself as an inherited trait, it was something which I desired) or at least an understanding of the arts and the ability to provide proper training in what ever form the child desired. -LOVE - This is a big one and again, tough to put on paper. I read three different statements about this subject from the candidates and I can tell you that one was clearly above the others. As it turns out, I made a great dad selection and a poor mom selection. Thing is, you never know what is going to come out of the whole thing - it is like a job interview, you need to sell yourself, but look what you can give the child (not in terms of stuff) but rather parental guidance, and above all love ! I know that this is a little long, and I am sorry - but thought you might like a different perspective. AOK -