You have completed your home study for embryo adoption and now you are ready to create your adoptive family profile! Or maybe you have embryos you would like to donate to a recipient family and your agency needs you to create a profile to present to your potential matches! Whatever side you are on, creating a family profile can be HARD. It may seem like you have been staring at that blank Word document for days… how do you even begin to present yourself to potential placing parents in 8-12 pages?! Have no fear! We are here to help you create an accurate AND engaging family profile in just seven easy steps.
Accuracy
1. Present the REAL you
Some people love dogs, others hate them. Some people cannot wait to get outside, while others would rather watch a movie. Some people play board games 24/7, and others would rather do anything else… You cannot please everyone. Be confident in who you are as a family and be honest about your lifestyle and interests. The right placing family will come along who values you for who you truly are!
2. Be brutally honest with yourself
When writing your family profile, it can be easy to either over-sell or under-sell yourselves. Do you exercise 2-3 times a week? That’s great! No need to say that you are a fitness junkie who runs miles each morning. Do you read a book or two a month? No need to say you “read from time to time” to avoid sounding like a bookworm. Donating and adoptive want to get to know you, including your strengths and weaknesses!
3. Balance is key
One of the biggest mistakes families can make in their profiles is focusing too much on one aspect of their lives. Include a variety of hobbies, values, and life events. One example of over-emphasis on one aspect of your life could be fitness. Even if you LOVE finding creative ways to make healthy eating fun and finding new hiking trails every weekend, make sure to also include other interests like music, baking, reading, involvement in a local church, time with family, etc… Families like to see balance.
Engaging
4. Show what makes you unique
This one can be tricky. Consider asking a close friend what makes your family unique. Have you visited all 50 states? Do you water ski on the weekends? Maybe you are a chess champion? Find something that is unique to you and your family and let it shine through.
5. Inject humor
No one wants to read a boring family profile—that’s one way to turn off any donating or adoptive family. Include silly pictures or talk about the embarrassing way you met your spouse. Maybe even share a funny story about “that time you _________ with your friends.” Humor is a great way to feel relatable and trustworthy.
6. Include photos
Photos allow the both the donating family to visualize the life their biological children may live. If you are creating a donor family profile, it allow the adoptive family to have a glimpse of what their future child may look like. You can include photos from your wedding, vacations, local parks, and restaurants. You can also include pictures of things like your backyard, the front of your home, your kitchen, or the room you are planning to make a nursery. One thing to remember as you consider pictures to include: if you wouldn’t want your mom to see it, you don’t want it in your profile.
Bonus Tip:
7. Edit, edit, and edit again
Simple grammar and spelling mistakes can unintentionally communicate that you are not taking the adoption or donation process seriously. Run your profile through an online spelling/grammar checker and have a friend proof read it for you. A few rounds of edits and your profile will be ready to go!
To learn more about the way you can build your family through embryo adoption, or donate remaining embryos, visit EmbryoAdoption.org.
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