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Creating A Profile


BrookeNTodd

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We got great guidance at the orientation.  We can tell you to not use old picture from Facebook, because they reduce the quality of the picture and it will not print well.  Also don't use Collage Factory, it degraded the quality of our pictures.  Scott put our profile together with his art program.  You don't need to spend a whole lot of money putting it together.  We can assure that the ladies at Abrazo will review your profile and tell you what needs to be changed.  They know their stuff, so trust their assessments.  

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We bought a pretty inexpensive program at Office Depot, I want to say it was around $20.  It worked great for us both of our profiles always received a lot of compliments.  We did have them printed from a professional and not at home so that the pictures and colors were at a higher resolution.

I would start gathering pictures of you as individuals and as a couple. The Abrazo chicks give great advice at orientation and if you come with some pictures they can help you by picking the ones that they think are the best. Some suggestions are to include pictures that you aren't wearing  sunglasses and ones that don't have you just sitting on the couch being "couch potatoes".   

If you have any more questions please ask!  

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Hi! So glad you made your way to the forum! 

The last profile we created we did in Powerpoint and we loved the way it turned out.  We were struggling with photo software programs and just needed something easy for us.  My husband and I are both business professionals so using what we knew, worked well for us and allowed us to focus on the mechanics of the profile itself rather than the software.

I recommend determining how many pages you want in your profile and make an outline just like you would a story.  Talk over with your spouse what you want each page to say about your story and then start compiling pictures to tell that story.  Choose a great picture for your cover page that is posed, but try your best to include other pictures of you doing things you enjoy, natural pictures that reflect the people you are, as opposed to too many pictures of you looking and smiling at the camera.

Have fun!

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

We also used PowerPoint and I thought it worked well. We tried using a local printer but the quality of the pictures was not good so we just ended up going to Office Depot for printing and it was perfect. They will give you lots of examples to see of other people's profiles during orientation and we found that really helpful. Plus, once you've done a rough draft you send it to abrazo and they will give you good and honest feed back on what works and what needs to be changed BEFORE you print it out.

I agree that it works out better if you include some "action shots" or pictures of you doing things and not just all posed pictures of you looking at the camera.  Best of luck! 

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  • 1 month later...

I found looking at other profiles we received at orientation was very helpful.  The best online advice I found was to let the pictures tell the story of who you are and what your everyday life is, don't load it down with too much text - really hard to do when you're trying to get so much across.  I tried not to write about what was in the pictures to get as much out of the little space as possible.  You want the birth mother to envision the kind of life their child will live with you.  Be genuine and include pictures or a theme that makes you unique, so she remembers your profile after viewing 10 others.  Not everyone is into scrapbooking, but I am so I put our profile together by hand with a set of coordinating paper I bought at JoAnn's fabric (carried at Michael's, Hobby Lobby, and the like).  The pages had enough on them I didn't feel the need to add anything, but we're so busy they distracted from the pictures and text.  I printed the text on sort of matching colored paper on our home printer (make it an easy to read font, no fancy script, and size) and attached it.  4x6 is the standard size of pictures these days, but they quickly take up space so I ordered Wallet sized versions of many pictures (through Costco as well as Shutterfly, costco was much faster and just as nice) so I could fit in more pictures and I cut them so they ended up with a white outline - so no need to mat them.

They were very specific at orientation about including your names (including last) and home town as a welcoming gesture (besides with the internet if someone wants to find you they will), not including too many pictures of other people (they're just more strangers the birth mother knows nothing about), just about everyone wants their child to have the opportunity to visit Disneyland/World so include a pic of you there if you've been, you might connect over the Harley you have in common or perhaps she always wished she'd had singing lessons and you sing in the choir - so include details like that to distinguish you from other couples.  Don't let the decor distract from the pictures, but a theme makes you memorable (your state, alma mater, favorite sports team or hometown - I opted not to have bats all over our profile despite Austin being known as the largest urban free-tail bat colony in the US, the capitol featured throughout and that's where I work too...I figured it doesn't have to be an in-your-face theme).

Basic format: page 1 thanks for checking us out, here we are in 5 sentences and 1-3 pics; page 2 about him (at least partially written from her perspective); page 3 about her (at least partially from his perspective); page 4 things you typically do (bbq, pool time, trips to the beach or hiking, gaming, watching sports)/ or if you have another child, make this page about them and how another child will fit right in, great opportunity to show what their child will be doing (swim lessons, birthday parties with lots of diverse family and friends); page 5 about your family/friends/community into which their child will be welcomed (showing diversity); page 6 thanks for checking us out, if you choose to move forward with adoption plans, we want you as part of our family - signed legibly with your names.

Like all the paperwork, I found the profile daunting at first, but once you tuck in and focus, you make it through with a product that you don't feel sucks and the Abrazo chicks will tell you is bound to make that placement happen.

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  • 4 years later...

Hey All!

Just about to start our profile, but unfortunately with COVID there are no orientation weekends in the foreseeable future.  Does anyone have any recommendations of templates or software to use to create a profile book?

Thanks!!

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