If you need to find safe, loving, supportive and excited adoptive parents for your baby, the best way to do so is through adoptive family profiles. But, what are adoption profiles, where can you find them, and how can you meet those waiting families? Here’s your complete guide to finding adoptive parents for your baby using online adoption profiles:

What is an Adoption Profile?

You’ve probably seen online dating profiles — where a person shares some details about themselves in the hope that someone out there will feel a connection. Adoptive family profiles are similar! These families hope that a pregnant woman looking for adoptive parents for her child will feel a connection to their profile, and will choose them to be her baby’s parents.

When a couple hopes to adopt a child, they often work with an adoption professional to create what’s called an “adoption profile.” Adoption profiles offer women facing unplanned pregnancy a way to get to know a family as potential adoptive parents, as a couple and as people.

Tips for Screening Adoption Profiles

There a few things worth noting about profiles of couples looking to adopt, which can help you know what to look for:

• It’s 100% free for you to view adoption profiles of waiting families. In fact, the entire process of placing a baby for adoption is free for you, including your medical care, legal representation, help finding adoptive parents, counseling and much more. It never costs money to place a baby for adoption, or to view adoptive parent profiles.
• If you see a profile of a waiting family on an adoption agency’s website, it means that the family has already completed all the necessary requirements, background checks, home studies and other screening measures, and they’ve been approved as ready to adopt.
• You’ll likely see the occasional “DIY”-style profile for adoption on social media or in advertisements. Remember that those couples may not have received a home study yet, or may not have been properly screened. That’s why it’s always safest to choose an adoptive family through a licensed adoption agency.
• Pregnant women sometimes feel unsure what they should look for in a potential adoptive couple. Everyone looks for something different — just look for the couple that feels right to you. You might feel a connection with a family because you share similar interests or religious beliefs, or maybe you like the way they talk about their family.
• When looking at adoptive parents’ profiles, listen to your gut! If you have a good feeling about a family, contact the adoption agency and ask if you can get to know that family. You’ll usually have the ability to speak with the family yourself, so you can ask questions and get to know them a bit better.
• Not seeing “The Ones” as you browse through adoption agencies’ parent profiles? Give the adoption agency a call, and describe what you’re looking for. They’ll often be able to connect you to waiting families who don’t have their profile listed online yet. Your baby’s parents are out there — don’t worry.

Moving Away from the Adoption Profile Book to Video Profiles of Adoptive Families Online

Before the rise of the internet, the most common way for a pregnant woman to find adoptive parents for her baby was by receiving adoptive family profile books. A family profile book for adoption was a physical scrapbook of photos and a letter to the prospective birth parents. Some smaller adoption agencies still use these physical adoptive parent profile books if they don’t have the resources to list the profiles online.

The problem with the prospective adoptive parent profile book? It requires time to either mail it to a prospective birth mother, or she has to physically come in to an adoption agency’s office to pick up stacks of the books.

Now, it’s much easier and faster to list adoptive couples’ profiles online, typically on the website of the adoption agency. What’s more, some national adoption agencies even offer video profiles, so you can see for yourself what a potential family is like. Video profiles offer a much more in-depth look at a potential family for your baby.

Here’s what you’ll typically see when you watch an online video profile for adoption:

What Will You Learn About a Family in their Adoptive Couple Profile?

Decades ago, it used to be unfortunately common for birth parents to have no say in the adoptive parents. Now, you not only choose the adoptive parents, you can get to know them yourself and can choose to have a lifelong relationship with them through an open adoption.

In open adoption profiles, you’ll learn a lot about a hopeful couple, including:

• The state they reside in.
• Their religious beliefs.
• What their home and neighborhood look like.
• What their family dynamics are like — their other children (if applicable), their friends, extended family, etc.
• How they interact as a couple.
• Their hobbies and interests.
• Their professions.
• Their likes and dislikes.
• The dreams they have for your child.
• And much more.

Looking for something specific in an adoptive family? If you have preferences regarding race, religion, location or other specifics, adoption agencies’ websites will often have a filter tool that allows you to sort through families who match what you’re looking for. Try it out here.

If you see waiting adoptive family profiles you like, but you have some questions about that family, simply contact their adoption agency. You’ll often have the opportunity to talk to the family directly before you move forward with the adoption, and you can continue getting to know them throughout the adoption process and beyond. What matters most is that you feel confident about your baby’s future parents.

How much (or how little) contact you have with a potential adoptive family, before, during and after the adoption, is always 100% your choice.

Where Can You View Adoption Profiles Online?

Although you may seem some scattered listings of families wanting to adopt, profiles are best found through a licensed adoption agency. There are several reasons why you should partner with an adoption agency when searching for private adoption profiles:

• You know that all the open adoption family profiles that are found through a licensed agency will only list families who have already been screened and are safe and ready to adopt. Families who have created profiles outside of an agency may not have been screened or verified as safe.
• If you select a family, and don’t work with an adoption agency, you won’t have access to important free services, like counseling, financial support, free medical care, legal representation, communication support and more.
• National adoption agencies have the largest selection of adoptive couple profiles, because they’re able to show you waiting families throughout the U.S., not just a handful of local families. You’re more likely to find exactly what you’re looking for, and in less time.

Ready to find the perfect parents for your baby? Here’s how to begin:

Top 5 Websites Where You Can Look at Adoption Families Profiles

Start with these websites to view open adoptive parent profiles right now. All of the families listed on these sites are anxiously waiting for you to change their lives:

1. Giving Baby Up for Adoption
2. American Adoptions
3. Adoption for My Baby
4. Considering Adoption
5. Adoption Agencies

Want to view more adoption profiles? Contact an adoption agency now — they’ll send you profiles of waiting families that match what you’re looking for and help you find the family you feel is perfect for your baby.