Blog Topic

An Idea Whose Time Has Come
Posted by: Steve Kirsh
May 05, 2008

As technology rolls forward it brings new ways of doing things and one of those new ways is the profile video. A profile video isn't required to adopt. You won't find it in law books. But savvy couples still consider this a serious option because they know it rejuvenates their adoption potential by setting themselves apart in the eyes of the generation they're trying to reach; The Millennials a.k.a Generation Y.

What is known about this generation?

• They're born between 1977 and 1994.
• They've grown up with the Internet, comfortable with technology
• They're adaptable
• They grasp new concepts
• Image driven
• Impatient: instant gratification
• They opt for a mobile phone over landlines
• 56% of them own DVD players

• Information must flow more instantly.

An article entitled 'Managers Must Set Example for Gen Y Kidployees" by Robin Allen has this to say about Gen Y:

Unlike past generations, the technological advances in the past decade have put a multitude of choices at the fingertips of Generation Y. The wealth of information available in seconds from the Internet, hundreds of television stations to choose from and a different shopping center every ten miles has given Gen Y members the notion that if they do not get what they want from one source, they can immediately go to another.

(*Source: Managers Must Set Example for Gen Y Kidployees; employee Recruitment and Molding; Robin Allen, 2005)

If Millennials are your audience what would you do with your profile? Post nine written paragraphs on a nursing home's cafeteria wall, or post a profile video on your attorney's web-site? My example is extreme, but my point is emphasized.

So what should this 7 to 10 minute glimpse into your personality include? Along with seeing how you move, interact, sound, and so forth, birthparents are also looking for "answers". Imagine yourself placing a child for adoption. What qualities would you look for in prospective adoptive parents? What kind of education do they expect to give the child. Is religion important to you? How would they discipline? You get the picture.

The technology behind profile videos offers amazing flexibility. A profile video on the internet can be linked or seen in a number of ways. i.e your attorney's web-site, your personal web-site, email your profile link, write your link into classified ads, or on the bottom of written profiles. Technology can place your profile video onto DVD's to be physically mailed and watched on DVD players, on a birthparent's computer, or a counselor's laptop. The sky's the limit.

Is your current profile earning the loyalty and respect of birthparents you are trying to reach? It should be. If it isn't you're adding needless months to your search.

Your attorney isn't trying to adopt. You hired an attorney because you're trying to adopt and you recognize the absolute necessity and leverage a professional adoption attorney can bring to your search. But also recognize the leverage tool a profile video can be in the hands of your hired professional and to your adoption search when reaching out to Millennials.

Michael Heiny

AdoptProfiles.com

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A Call to Action for Adoption
Posted by: Steven Kirsh
January 17, 2008

I read an article in the Indianapolis Star news on December 10, 2007, by columnist Betty Cockrum. She stated that according to the Annie E. Casey Foundation, 1 in 5 Hoosier children are living in poverty. A 21% increase from the year 2000. She also made reference to Indiana's failing attempts at providing health care to women. Cockrum discusses the tragedy of these things and explain a great number of problems from poor birth spacing, children living in welfare, and lack of education. All of which contribute to a lower standard of living among Hoosier women and their children.

Cockrum goes on to report, the women are likely to suffer from poorer health, less chance for career advancement, and list of other negative outcomes. Their children are likely to become victims of abuse and neglect and, ultimately, likely to continue to live in the state of poverty for the rest of their lives. A lot of this can already be seen in Indiana's poor comparison to national levels of infant mortality, child deaths, teen deaths, and teens dropping out of high school.

The article discusses how a youngster named TaJanay Bailey, a 3 year old Indianapolis child, was killed by her mother and her boyfriend; currently that mother has a 6 month old, and is also pregnant with another child.

"Not all tragedies make the front page. Some like a lifetime of poverty or lack of education, happen quietly. It's time we start listening more closely and taking action to improve the lives of those living in our midst", says Cockrum.

Although Cockrum's article focused on poverty and changes in the way Indiana addresses the problem, an immediately available solution which costs Hoosier taxpayers nothing and does not require massive bureaucratic changes is adoption.

Adoption offers a woman the opportunity to secure her child's future while at the same time giving her a better chance to provide for herself and other children.

To make this happen, all of us need to be advocates of adoption- not to persuade women that they must choose adoption, but rather to at least, open a dialogue about the truths of adoption in order to let women know that it is an available option.

(Come back to read our next blog- regarding truths and myths of adoption)

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