When you are looking at a blank sheet of paper or computer screen, it can be difficult to know how to start describing your family. How do you tell a complete stranger about your life? What things should you share, and what parts should you keep private? What does a placing mother need to know about you before choosing you to parent her child?

When I was the one looking at a blank computer screen, I thought about the things that a placing mother might be looking for. I thought about this from a logical... more

If you are adopting by matching with a placing mother, then your agency, attorney, or facilitator will probably ask you to put together an adoptive parent profile. Your profile will be shown to placing mothers, along with profiles created by other hopeful adoptive parents, so that the placing mother can choose the best adoptive family for her child. Since this profile is your introduction to the placing mother, you want... more

The next step was to put together a life book. For those of you who enjoy scrapbooking, this probably sounds like an exciting thing to do. For those of you who are like me and would rather clean the bathrooms than scrapbook, this was a daunting assignment. How could I possibly put into one album all that a placing mother needed to know about us?

I am a writer, not a scrapbooker. I am also a computer person. My idea of creativity is inserting clip art into a document. Even the photographs in this blog are provided by a photographer friend of... more

I was just clicking around on the adoption.com website, trying to think of something to write about, when I saw an ad with the words "Find the perfect family for your child." I didn't click on the link, but I think it's a reasonable assumption that the ad was directed towards pregnant women who are considering adoption.

It made me wonder: what is the perfect family?

If you are hoping to adopt and have chosen to do so privately and domestically, you probably spend a lot of time wondering this, too. Is my family perfect, at least in the eyes of someone who is looking... more

After you make your "Hoping to Adopt" website it's important to publicize and link the site so that prospective birth parents can find it.

I have not made a website (yet) about my family hoping to adop (waiting on the hubby to come around) BUT I am the owner of 2 current on-line businesses (www.drtpress.com and www.cipblock.com) and have run a sucessful one in the past, so I know a little bit about on-line marketing on the cheap. That's what you'll be doing, essentially - marketing your... more

One of the ways potential adoptive parents contact potential birth parents is through a website. To be most effective this website should be linked to other websites (more on that later), but first you need to start with an informative, interesting, and honest site with an accessible design.

Hoping to Adopt websites don't need to be fancy and they can easily be made by the couple or individual who is hoping to adopt. I found several websites that I think could serve as good examples:

Gary and Mandi's site

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Note to readers: since I wrote this blog I've done a little research into this book and the controversy that surrounds it. I still think that the techniques that Burns suggests for advertising (which is what I'm profiling in this blog and the next two entries) are valid, but I also suggest you read this review before you purchase it. I think that the review on The Whole Mom's webpage gives prospective adoptive parents a lot to think about.

Okay, that said, here's some of what I found useful about Fast Track Adoption...

... more

Note to readers: since I wrote this blog I've done a little research into this book and the controversy that surrounds it. I still think that the techniques that Burns suggests for advertising (which is what I'm profiling in this blog and the next two entries) are valid, but I also suggest you read this review before you purchase it. I think that the review on The Whole Mom's webpage gives prospective adoptive parents a lot to think about.

Okay, that said, here's some of what I found useful about Fast Track Adoption...

... more

Note to readers: since I wrote this blog I've done a little research into this book and the controversy that surrounds it. I still think that the techniques that Burns suggests for advertising (which is what I'm profiling in this blog and the next two entries) are valid, but I also suggest you read this review before you purchase it. I think that the review on The Whole Mom's webpage gives prospective adoptive parents a lot to think about.

Okay, that said, here's some of what I found useful about Fast Track Adoption... ... more