1. Introduction - "I understand...". 2. What is an Adoption Portfolio? 3. Before You do Anything Else... 4. What Prospective Birthmothers are Looking for. 5. Get Your Camera Out Now! - Pictures ARE Important! 6. Writing Your Text and Preparing for Layout: Insight and Samples by Page. 7. Speciality Text Issues. 8. What Will Your Design Say about You? 9. Ways to Create Your Portfolio. 10. Your Final Review - Getting a Fresh Set of Eyes. 11. Printing Choices Make a Difference. 12. Marketing Yourself Making Use of Your Portfolio. 13. Letting Go. 14. Your Dream CAN Come True. 15. Workbook Questions for Core Pages.

Full of simple and effective design ideas and tips for writing adoption portfolios, this is a step-by-step guide to creating a portfolio that will present you in the best possible light and help the right birth-family to find and choose you.

How do you create an adoption portfolio that will show prospective birth families why you are the perfect adoptive parent for their child? Do you know which pictures to include and which to leave out? Do you really understand what prospective birth parents care about?

This is a step-by-step guide to creating a portfolio which will reflect your personality, make a strong positive impact and encourage the right birth family to choose you. Madeleine Melcher shares the secrets she has discovered over years of creating successful portfolios, profiles and prospective birth parent letters. She combines simple and effective design ideas and tips for writing and layout with a deep understanding of how portfolios work. Importantly, this book also draws extensively on the experiences of birth mothers and the professionals who support them to examine what they are really looking for, featuring questions which prospective birth mothers will want to see answered in your portfolio.

From text to design, this guide will give you the confidence to create a portfolio that sets you apart. It is essential reading for prospective adoptive parents, as well as adoption attorneys and adoption agencies advising those hoping to adopt.

Madeleine Melcher is an adoptee, mother of three blessings of adoption, as well as the owner of Our Journey to You, a company dedicated to designing adoption portfolios and adoption profiles. She has helped countless prospective adoptive parents create their adoption portfolios, her designs have led some of her clients to be chosen within mere days of their portfolio submission. She lives with her husband and children in the Midwest.