Frequently Asked Questions About Our Adoption Profiles

Adoption is challenging even at the best of times. Having a completed home study means you’ve completed all of your training and education and are ready to adopt a child. It’s a safety measure designed to protect you and the expectant parents who will be contacting you, and avoid potential problems down the road. Keep in mind that unlike you, the expectant parents have not undergone the same kind of screening process and may not understand how adoption works. Having a completed home study means that you’re aware of your rights and responsibilities, which includes making sure the expectant parents receive counselling and have the proper representation throughout the process.

Having a completed home study is part of our terms of service. So you’ll need to have one. However, if your adoption worker sends us a letter stating that your home study has been sent to the ministry and is expected to receive approval, we will consider posting your profile on a temporary basis.

As part of our Terms of Service, you’ll need to have proof of a completed private adoption home study to get your profile posted and live in a province that allows advertising by adoptive parents. As of now, those provinces include Ontario and B.C. Some provinces like Manitoba allow advertising under special circumstances. Speak to your adoption professionals to see whether your province qualifies.

Agencies are great, but their outreach efforts vary greatly, depending on which one you’re working with. Some don’t post their waiting parents’ profiles online. Others don’t spread the news about them through social media. And still others don’t show up in Google searches. We do all three—-and much more. Our goal is to maximize your exposure so that you can connect with the expectant parents who are looking for you. That said, when it comes to finding a placement, there is no such thing as too much visibility. So whether you work with us or someone else or even on your own, as long as you follow the laws and provincial guidelines you can never go wrong with posting your profile online.

Assuming all of your material is ready to go, it shouldn’t take you more than 20 minutes. Keep in mind that you can save your progress at any time and pick up wherever you left off. You can also make changes at any time after your profile has been published.

For sure. There is a one-time set-up fee of $60. Contact us at info@canadaadopts.com for more details. 

Our blog and website has 100+ articles about how to create an effective profile, with tips from everyone from successful adoptive parents to birthparents. If you’re looking for additional help, we also offer a writing service where you can get one-on-one assistance with any aspect of your profile and outreach efforts.

While we realize you’ve spent a lot of time and/or money creating your own website, all users of Canada Adopts! need to register and create their own profile in order to appear on our site.

Over the past 20 years we’ve had matches with all three of our plans. However, the majority of them have come through the “Extreme Exposure” plan. Finding a match is all about getting exposure, and the “Extreme Exposure” plan offers that in spades. Not only will your profile appear on our home page, on the top row(s) of our Adoption Profiles page, and in featured places throughout the site, it will also be posted and promoted on our social media channels where it will reach an even larger audience.

Yes, you can change it at any time. Contact us at info@canadaadopts.com and we’ll be happy to help. 

Every situation is different and depends on a number of variables. We’ve had waiting parents find a match on their first day or first week on the site, while others have waited for years. Most matches are somewhere in between. Your profile, pictures and exposure play a huge role in the process. But don’t under estimate luck and timing! The key is to be proactive and to stay positive. Although there’s no guarantee that having a profile will help you find a match. Your odds of being successful will significantly increase if you do.

We strongly recommend you contact your adoption professionals as soon as possible. Unfortunately, not everyone who will be reaching out to you will be doing so in good faith and sometimes we’re too emotionally involved in a situation to realize it. As a result, the first thing you need to determine is that the people contacting you are who they say you are, and not scammers. Getting your professionals involved early on could help you spot red flags and save you a lot of heartbreak, frustration and money before you get too deep into a situation.

Yes. We’re not an agency nor are we licensed to place children for adoption. Our goal is to help you with one of the most difficult parts of the open adoption process–finding a match with an expectant parent. But you still need an adoption practitioner and licensee to guide you through the social and legal aspects of the placement and get the adoption approved.

Each year we have 10+ matches, of which 6-8 typically result in successful adoptions. A match is created when an expectant parent connects with a waiting adoptive parent. Keep in mind that not all matches result in adoptions. Sometimes the expectant parents or the adopting parents will change their minds or realize they’re not a good fit. A successful adoption is one where both parties agree to move forward with a placement that is eventually approved by the province.

No. There are no additional charges beyond your monthly subscription fee.

Yes, in fact we recommend it. Expectant parents can get really excited when they find what they think are the perfect parents for their baby. And it’s not fair for them to get their hopes up about you if you’ve already connected with another couple. We suggest you put your profile on hold while you work through your current connection, even if it doesn’t seem promising. Just let us know and we’ll put your profile on pause and will re-activate it if and when you’re ready.