Today we're talking about all things adoption profile. We’re going to first start with why it's so important; then we're going to move into really what it is and how it can help you match faster. And I might even give you a few bonus tips here and there that I used in my adoption journey. And that I've coached my hundreds of clients through. And, just in the past few months, we've had four adoptions through using these exact tips. So grab a pen and paper and know you're going to find a ton of value today. 

Let's dive right in by talking about what are the adoption profile is. An adoption profile is that initial hello to expected parents. It is how you can tell your story to unexpected parents so that they can decide if they want to get to know you better. I often think about this as like a dating site, right. So on a dating site, you're going to have a little picture and a little bit about you. And that's the way you think about the kind of opening of an adoption profile. 

Now, this adoption profile, I would argue, though, is the most important piece of communication or marketing because that's what it is that you are going to create for your life. I think it's even more important than your resume because this is your family. After all, this is a tool to build your family. While I would never tell my husband this, this is more important than your first date, right? Because this is how you become a mom how you become a parent. I kid, but I am also a kind of a half-serious friend!

Different Types of Adoption Profiles

1. Adoption Profile Book

2. Adoption Profile PDF

3. Social Media Accounts

4. Website

5. Video

Let's talk about the different types of adoption profiles that you might need in your journey. Now, I will tell you that the kind of adoption profile you need in your journey will vary based upon the way you are matching your adoption. So if you're self-matching, working with an agency, working with a consultant or an attorney, you might need different types of adoption profiles. So I'm going to give you an overview here, but if you're curious about what kind of profile you need, don't worry; I’ve got your back with more blog posts on this subject. 

Adoption Profile Book

When we hear adoption profile, most of us think of a profile book, like a physical book that you would like to hand out to somebody carry around with you. I would tell you that this actual type of profile is becoming less and less prevalent and less and less popular because we have gotten to be virtual in a mobile world, right? Everyone is walking around with their phone in their hand. You want to have a profile that is flexible enough to be consumed, no matter her preferences related to holding a physical book in her hand or holding her phone.

Adoption Profile PDF

So the following few types are geared more towards digital. So the next type of adoption profile is a PDF, and think about this as a skinnier or lighter version of the book. Right? So the average book would have been 20 pages. Can you imagine trying to read a 20 page PDF on your phone? Now it's not that conducive, right? So you want to have a smaller version that maybe has a little less text, a little bit more pictures, or a great combination of the two together? That would make a great adoption profile from a PDF perspective, something that is small enough that you can email back and forth with your agency or expectant parents directly.

Social Media Adoption Profiles

The next type of profile is social media accounts, and I'm using this as one big bucket because we could talk for hours, hours, and days about each platform individually and how to use them. There will be other posts available on the blog about this because this is a question I get quite a lot in my Facebook group.   People ask me quite often, like, do I need a business account? Do I need a personal account? What do I use to post in groups? What do I use to post? In on Instagram? Should I use Tick Tock? What is clubhouse? I mean, the questions go on and on and on. So don't worry, that will be our next series. We will dive into social media, we'll dissect each platform, and I will give you all of my best tips and recommendations based upon what my clients have seen work the best. A spoiler alert, in the past three months, I have had three clients match all through social media, based upon the tips that I've shared with them. So you want to stick around because that's going to be incredibly valuable. So make sure you come back and check those out as well. 

Okay, so social media accounts, again, I would highly suggest that you have a presence on Facebook, Instagram, and Tiktok. And we will dive into those in later episodes. But those are three ways to have a social media presence for your adoption profile or having an adoption profile through social media. 

When it comes to social media, there is a real art and science behind it because it matters what you post, when you post, and how you post so that your ideal expectant mother will be exposed to your content.  This is also incredibly important if you will put any paid advertising dollars (if that is something your state allows) behind any of your posts so that she has a better chance of seeing your story.  Again, these are all things that I will cover in the following content series, so stick around!

Adoption Profile Website

Having an adoption website is becoming important as more and more of us are using social media to meet our expectant parents. Also, the adoption website is quickly replacing the book. It is becoming what I would call a longer-form content for those of us in the marketing world. We can think of that more easily as a better place to get to know someone on their phone, right? People don't again want to carry around that book, but instead, they want to watch videos about you, hear your voice, and read your words to understand better who you are as a family.  

Think about it from an expectant parent’s point of view.  I can dive more deeply into who you are as individuals, as couples. And still, yet I can remain pretty anonymous if I'm still just in that initial like pre-dating stage if you will. And this has become a terrific solution for many hopeful adoptive families, especially those that are self-matching. Just as a note, if you're using an agency attorney or consultant, they likely will have a website for you off of their page. They’re probably going to have a template that you're going to use. They’re going to make it pretty simple for the mechanics of the website itself. And I would still strongly urge you to be super intentional about what you're sharing. And as a matter of fact, I have a whole program and approach that teaches you what to share and how to share. But it's really important that that pulls through every element, especially your website. 

For those of you who are self-matching and you're a little worried about the tech or a little apprehensive, we tell you that having a website is so much easier than you think it is. And if you need help with that, just reach out at any time. I’m always happy to help you. I have a super-easy way for you to create a website, and you can learn more about that here. 

So don't be scared of the tech, my friend, because this is a really important step. And I would say it's only probably second in importance to our last type of adoption profile, which is a video. 

Adoption Profile Video

Okay, this is something that I have a lot of passion for my friends. Video is a great way to teach about your family differently. I have recently begun teaching on YouTube for those of you that notice because it is just a different way to connect with your audience. And one of the kinds of the secret tips, if you will, as it relates to your adoption profile, is making sure that you are creating your content so that they like to consume it so in a way that they most authentically want to get to know you. 

If you think about where she is in her initial steps of choosing a family, before she talks to you, or before she feels ready to talk to you, she wants to get to know you a little bit better video and websites are a great way for her to get to know you. More specifically, on video, she can hear what you sound like. She can see what you look like and pick up more on your mannerisms. She could just really get to know you at a whole different level. So video is a really important factor for you to consider as it relates to your adoption profile.

Again, this does not have to be complicated or confusing. I'll have lots of content that I can share with you related to videos and how to make a great video. And we can walk through that together if that's something you're interested in. But the video does not have to be complicated. It can be as simple as you holding your phone in front of your face, in front of a window with natural light, or outside in speaking from your heart. You just want to make sure that you're doing it in a way that ties back to your overall profile and isn't aligned with your family values and what you're trying to communicate as a family.  If you want to learn more about creating an adoption video, you can click here.

Why Your Adoption Profile Is Important

Okay, now, let's shift our attention to why your adoption profile is so important. And as promised, a few little bonus tips for you here as well. So again, I've talked about this a couple of times. But my first reason why your adoption profile is so important is it's your initial Hello. This is your way of communicating with her before she's ready to communicate with you. This is the way you can share a bit of your family. But it is so incredibly critical that you share things in an easy-to-understand way more about that in a minute. The second step is this is real, or the second reason this is so important is that this is the way you start forming a relationship. 

This is your first impression, and first impressions do matter. In this case, I often share with my clients; if she is on social media or looking through a list of profiles on her phone, you have got about three seconds to make an impression for her to thumb to stop scrolling up on her phone, to start clicking on your profile, you want to have that clickable moment with the content you're sharing and how you're marketing your family really so that she wants to learn more about you so that she's not just scrolling past you and moving to the next family on the list. 

This is her risk-free way of getting to know who you are as a person. Think about where she is for just a minute. She is experiencing all kinds of emotions. She has a lot of pressure on her. She's worried, maybe even still trying to decide if adoption is right for her. So she doesn't want to sit and process all of that with you when you're a perfect stranger, right. So at this moment, this is her risk-free way of trying you out, so to speak, she's going to look at your profile, she's going to try to see this family in her mind and this child within this family in her mind. And she's going to start internalizing that before she chooses to reach out to you in that is so so critical of importance that she's trying to see if you're a good fit. 

She doesn't want to break your heart, just like she doesn't want to break her own heart, right. And so that's the reason why having all of these different types of profiles and having a profile that's clear to understand who you are, is so important in this overall journey of adoption. Okay, I promised you a few bonus tips. And these are tips that I should share inside a free training that I offer. And I'll share a minute of share in a minute how to get more information on that. But these are just a few bonus tips before you head on over to check that out. 

So from a bonus tip perspective, the first thing I talk about your profile is the three C's. You got to be super clear. You have to be concise, and you want to be compelling. Again, you've got three seconds, maybe even less if I’m brutally honest, for her to choose to click on your profile to get to know you a little bit better. So when you talk about the need for brevity and for being compelling, there is no more significant way to demonstrate this other than to think about when you were scrolling through your Facebook feed, and you're deciding what you want to stop and engage with from a content perspective. 

Think about your content consumption habits to use a marketing term related to what somebody might or might not be clicking on. But don't worry, when it comes to adoption, there's this very specific framework that I can teach you to help make sure that you're the profile she wants to click on.  You can learn more about that in my free profile training. 

The second bonus tip that I want to share with you may shock you. So just sit down, take a deep breath with me. Your profile is not about you, friend, not at all. Yes, you're sharing your story. And yes, she's deciding whether or not you're the right fit. But if you are not seeing and telling your story, from her perspective, you're going to miss the mark, plain and simple. You are not the hero in this journey; you are the guide. You are guiding her to a way of thinking about this family, this child in this family, and you just happen to be the family that you're guiding her to. So if you are making yourself the hero here, or if you are making your profile all about you, you're going to miss the mark. And again, that's something that can help walk you through. 

The third bonus tip is that you want to make sure that you are constructing your story to take it in despite her learning style. Despite her history, you want to make sure that your story comes through despite any filters that she may be seeing you through. This sounds probably like marketing speak, but it is based on science. It is based on the principles of neuro-linguistic programming NLP. This is not some tricky way to get someone to choose you at all. 

This is actually about understanding how the human brain works. And putting that through an adoption lens when you have emotions, societal factors, and all of these other things come into play. And it is about putting all of that front and center in using a framework that I teach, that walks you through how to create and share your story in a way that she can take that on. I'm always coaching my clients to develop high-quality profiles because it is important to their adoption journey. 

These three tips are just the surface of what we dive into it. So if you're interested in learning more, no matter where you are in your journey, no matter if you are just starting, and you haven't written a profile yet, and you're like, I don't even know what to do. And my agency is going to require me to use this specific form. And all of these buts and ifs I call them. Or if you already have a profile, and maybe you've been waiting for a while. And you're worried that your profile, perhaps the thing that's keeping you from actually getting picked, then I really would urge you to click below. So you can get signed up for the free training that I offer on creating your profile. Now I do offer a paid class as well that walks you through everything that comes with one on one coaching with me. We work on your profile with you, and you can learn more about that as well. 

Your job in this adoption journey is to represent yourself and do everything you can to make your adoption easier, faster, more affordable. And I'm just your friend along the way to help you with that. Okay, so be sure to check out the link below to grab your spot in the free training. Remember, anything is possible with the right plan and support. And I've always got your back. Talk to you soon, friends.

Hi, I Am Amanda

I help women build their families through adoption by giving them the step by step guide to adopt a child and support them on their journey