We can be reached through Family Services of Greater Vancouver. Our representative is Shelley Brownell, sbrownell@fsgv.ca or phone 604-736-7613, 1-866-582-3678 (toll free).

Our promise is to provide a loving and secure home that will be full of fun, learning and creativity. This includes providing the child with opportunities in the arts and sports while allowing free play. We will share our interests with the child such as planting seeds in the garden and weaving, while respecting and nurturing the child’s interests as they develop.

Hello,

Thank you for reading our letter and for considering us to adopt your child.

Our names are Rob and Arthur. Adopting and raising a child has always been one of our hopes. In 2003, we got married and bought a house. Since then, we have been busy renovating, landscaping, and travelling abroad. We know we are now ready to bring a child into our lives and into our home.

Arthur describes Rob
Rob (left) is a very knowledgeable and handy person when it came to renovating our home; he was amazingly patient with me as a novice in the do-it-yourself projects. As a facility planner, Rob is responsible for finding office space for health care services and overseeing its design and construction. During his downtime, he enjoys cooking, reading, and attending opera performances. I know that he is passionate about weaving and would like to become a master weaver one day. Over the years, he has worked with kids through the YMCA teaching gym classes, as a camp counsellor and as a Scout Leader.

Rob describes Arthur
Arthur is compassionate, has a sense of humour and is good at setting boundaries. Arthur also has an eye for detail; which was really helpful during the renovations. Over the past five years, Arthur has been a social worker in health care providing counselling services. In his free time, Arthur’s interests include volleyball, organizing our photographs, and playing card, board and video games. He has a lot of experience working with children and youth in group homes, after-school programs and as a camp counsellor. I believe that Arthur has a natural ability with children and will be a great father.

Our shared interests include gardening, hiking, camping, travelling and attending live theatre.

Family and Friends
We are both the eldest child in our families of four. We have tremendous support from our parents and siblings as they have accepted us as being gay, being married and of our dream to become parents. They look forward to  welcoming your child into our family.

We have a group of friends, some who have started raising their own families. Our friends, both gay and straight, have been very supportive with our plan to adopt and will be wonderful resources when we become parents.

Parenting
Our promise is to provide a loving and secure home that will be full of fun, learning and creativity. This includes providing the child with opportunities in the arts and sports while allowing free play. We will share our interests with the child such as planting seeds in the garden and weaving, while respecting and nurturing the child’s interests as they develop.

We will also share in our blended cultural traditions; Rob’s parents are of Dutch origin and Arthur’s are Chinese. We will provide the child with diverse experiences in Western (Christmas), Dutch (Saint Nicholas Day) and Chinese (Lunar New Year) cultures.

Education is important to us and we will strongly encourage the child to take post secondary training, whether that is through university, technical school or an apprenticeship.

Our plan is that Rob will go on leave for the first year with both of our parents agreeing to help baby sit. Rob has the flexibility to work at home and to change work hours so that one of us will be home after school.

Our hope is for a boy or girl up to 18 months of age. The child could be Caucasian, Asian or a mix of both. We are open to the possibility of twins or siblings and are favourable to raising a child with mild and corrective special needs.

Home and Neighbourhood
We live in a multicultural neighbourhood in Burnaby, minutes from Vancouver, with a mix of seniors and young families. We made our home warm and child-friendly with a lot of room to play. The backyard is spacious with fruits trees, a veggie garden, and a spot reserved for a play house. We are within walking distance to a neighbourhood park, elementary and high schools, recreation centre with a swimming pool, library and a mall.

Open Adoption
With your permission, we would like to tell your child about you. We will respect your wishes regarding this matter and are agreeable to an open adoption and to work with you on how this will look like.

At the adoption seminars, we appreciated hearing the birth mothers' stories and gained a better understanding of how difficult it would be for a birth parent to have years of no information about how the birth child is doing.

In terms of specifics of an open adoption arrangement, we would be willing to consider a fully disclosed, a semi-disclosed or a closed adoption. We would hope to meet with the birth parents prior to the child’s birth and would be wiling to have contact after the child is placed in our home. We recognize that being flexible and openly communicating with the child’s birth family is the best way to build and maintain a healthy relationship, always making sure that the child’s interests are the priority.

Thank you for considering us to raise your child.

Warmest regards,
Rob and Arthur