[Iamfostermommy2]

Hello I was wondering if anyone could please help me and my husband. We are in the process of making a portfolio for a birthmother and we are lost. We have no idea how to begin or what to say. Could you please share your idea of how you did yours.
Kim

Fostermommy of 4 boys at this time
Brandon 3 months
Kameron 16 months
Collin 3 yrs
Myron 4yrs

[tobeafamily]

Hi,

We did a photo album with lots of pictures - us at wedding, doing our favorite things, pets, friends. We had my sister and one of our best friends write letters too telling anyone who would read about us.

It wasn't too fancy, I'm not very creative when it comes to crafts. Fun to do though, picking out pictures and writing captions. We also included an introduction letter - 1 page, about us and why we wanted to become parents.

HTH

Regina, AMom to Ryan Joshua Thomas

[Iamfostermommy2]

Hello thanks for your post. I was wondering could we use a scrapbook or just use a binder. Are there any order in which we should place things in the portifilo? Should I include in there I am currently a foster parent? How about releigon? We are saved by the grace of God. Thanks for any info
Kim

[MomofKaden]

For our birthmother book, we started out with letters from each of us to potential birthmothers, then we had the most recent pictures of us, vacations, then our wedding, when we were dating, our pets, and our home, then I made pages for each of our families and additional pages for our siblings who have families of their own, so that potential birthmothers could see their child's potential aunts/uncles and cousins. That is all I did and I was told to put it in a binder of some sort - I don't know if you could use a scrapbook or not, I think just a binder, because usually you are supposed to make a number of copies of it so the agency or whomever could have multiples so various people could view them at the same time. Anyway, I also think it would be great if you wanted to add a page about your church or a bible study or anything like that...we didn't include that in ours really, but I did include two pages of us with friends and labeled some of them as bible study friends...but a picture of your church or some statement of faith certainly isn't a bad idea! I would include something about your faith in your dear birthmother letter - that is what I did...I just told her that we knew that we didn't have to worry about what would happen or when we would be chosen because we believed in God and knew He had a plan for us and for her and that we were confident that we would get the match that He intended for us and that she would as well...whether or not that was each other.

Good luck - have fun with it! Oh, and generally you aren't supposed to put very identifying information in the book - so stick to first names and so forth.

[MomofKaden]

oops - I didn't address your one question - yes of course put that you are a foster parent - that is who you are! I would tell how many children you have had and how many you currently have. Tell their ages etc - anything you are allowed to tell (I don't know what is confidential). Have fun!

[Iamfostermommy2]

Thanks of much for the information. I got on the internet today and read a few Dear Birthmother letters. It gave me some idea's. See the portifilo I am doing is for one of my foster sons doctor. Are there any web cite that could help me? Would you put a few pictures of your foster kids in there, I know not all of them but maybe the ones here now?
Kim

[MomofKaden]

I would probably just put pictures of who is currently in your home, or maybe any other special child, perhaps some you had in your home far longer than some others or things like that...I'd be a little selective.

The guidelines we were given by the agency were:
Reflect yourself and the activities you enjoy
Show yourselves without others
Give an idea of where you live
Be crisp, clear and current
Include a few pictures of friends and family members
Include captions describing who and what is being shown

Adding a child's drawing is also acceptable
Should be 81/2x11

That's what they told us, but since you are just doing it for the doc, you can probably do just about whatever you'd like!

Hope that helps! I don't know of any websites about them...but you could try search engines and put in birthparent or birthmother album? Good luck!

[enerad]

I used the computer program Print shop, they had some templete already made up with fun graphics, etc... I had started a while back having my pictures saved on cd disk, and all you have to do is cut and paste. Very simple, etc... We find we can print our own, saved alot of money, and I can print them when I need them. We were also able to create a single page tri-fold from our original that we can send out for larger mailings.

[foreverblue127]

I also did our life album on the computer with photoshop. I did a dr. suess theme. It turned out really cute. Our sw said not to do anything to fancy. It waas really hard not to since Iam into photoraphy. I was not suppose to do a dear birthmother letter because we are adopting through the state. So our life album is in a 4x6 photo album very non exspensive and I saved mony by doing it on the computer as the poster above said.I had pictuers of us, our family,our dogs and places we like to go.
hope that helps
michelle

[Brat]

Try this forum: http://forums.adoption.com/f31.html

It's not very active right now, but you might find some helpful ideas.

[Support2Adopt]

Kim,
Basically what you want to do is to give a potential Birthparent a glimpse into your life. You want to give them a feel as to what their baby's life would be like if the baby grew up with you as the parents.
I would include photos and information about where you live, things you enjoy doing, your work, your family, pets, etc. Anything that is an important part of your life.
JJ