Not too long ago, the only way for hopeful adoptive parents to get the word out that they were adopting was through word of mouth and agency in-house profiles. With the introduction of social media and sites like Adoption.com, it is so much easier to get your profile out there to the whole world! If you ask many adoptive parents, you will find that many utilized social media and/or parent profiles to successfully adopt. Parent profiles are simply more efficient and reach an incredible amount of people.
Imagine that you are a hopeful adoptive parenting, and are just beginning the process of waiting for a child. You have signed up with an agency and have all of your paperwork completed. The only thing left to do is to wait for a potential birth mother to choose your profile. However, your agency has over 200 clients, all listed in a giant profile book that potential birth mothers choose from. That is it. A 1 in 200 chance you may be chosen and it is all dependent on how many potential birth mothers are viewing the profile month by month. This was the reality of adoption before social media and parent profiles became popular.
Who would not choose this avenue if given the opportunity? Exposure with both social media and parent profile sites, such as Adoption.com, increases exposure of adoptive parents immeasurably. Not only can agencies use these sites for their clients, but potential birth parents can also search in comfort and a low-pressure environment. Parent profiles and social media also allow for a shareable platform so that your profile can go as far as it is able with the help of family and friends. These profiles also give hopeful adoptive parents the ability to create, customize, and control the image they hope to present. This typically allows for personalities and preferences to shine through.
Along with exposure, the technology that parent profile sites utilize allows for these profiles to not only be centralized but to be filtered through in a much more efficient manner. Birth parents can more easily search for a match for their child based on their own personal preferences. These sites can filter relationship status, sex, religion, and various other preferences that might be important to a potential birth parent that hopes to find parents for his/her child, someone who will raise them in a way they had personally dreamed. Some sites also allow potential birth parents to search for couples who hope for either a closed or an open adoption, as this factor is often a key deal breaker in many adoptions.
Technology has completely changed parent profiles. Parent profiles used to be not much more than a glorified scrapbook with very little exposure. Online parent profiles not only allow for incredible exposure but can be one of the most important factors in adoption matching. As parent profiles continue to evolve with technology, adoption efficiency, and match compatibility will continue to flourish and lead to children being placed with families at a much faster rate.
