Writing profiles for the website

What is the profile for?

At this stage, prospective families know nothing about the child, and they rely on the profile and the accompanying photograph for their first impression.

Writing the profile is part of the complex and difficult task of linking a child with a new family. The dilemma for social workers is to try and meet not only the child’s current needs, but also their anticipated future needs.

They also need to present a rounded picture, while attracting appropriate enquiries. If the profile is too rosy or too vague it could raise false expectations or create misunderstandings, with families withdrawing when told of the fuller picture. If it is too prescriptive, the social worker might miss the ‘right’ family. Finding the right balance is never easy, but you will be able to talk about the child when families or their social workers make an enquiry.

For more information on writing profiles, please see:

• Sample profiles for web and print
• Writing the right profile
• How do you create that first impression?

You can discuss any queries with us, or consult the Adoption and Children Act 2002, Useful resources for agencies, or the the BAAF Practice Note Profiling Children.

Why does Be My Parent edit the profiles?

Be My Parent staff edit profiles, in consultation with a qualified, experienced social worker, to ensure that the profile:

• fits in with the Be My Parent house style
• follows good social work practice
• is of the right length
• flows well from a logical point of view, avoids repetitions and is reader-friendly.

We will advise you of any significant change and discuss queries with you.

How do you write the profile?

What matters most is communicating something about who this child is and making readers want to know more. The clearer the profile, the less they will have to second-guess what is meant. So, it’s best to write in short sentences, with simple, lively language, avoiding jargon and clichés. You can use quotes from people who know the child, and it’s also vital to convey the child’s perspective, where possible – a quote, a poem, an anecdote, can often speak volumes.

Because the profile could be ready by the child, or potentially by someone who knows then, it should not include in-depth background details, or anything that could potentially embarrass or distress anyone involved, most notably the child, now or when they are older.

The challenge is to convey the ‘spirit’ of the child and include all relevant information – and to do it in the space allocated!

Sample profiles for the website

Sibling groups

When siblings are featured together in one profile:

• include a general paragraph, with any shared characteristics and how the children get on
• provide a separate paragraph for each child
• avoid making comparisons between siblings.

Twins

As for any siblings, there should be a general paragraph, as well as two separate paragraphs, bringing out each child’s individual personality, interests and needs. Please write about the twins in the same order throughout.

Siblings featured separately

Siblings who are to be featured in separate profiles can be linked to each other online, unless you request otherwise. This will provide more information for prospective families, who might want to consider looking after them together, if appropriate.

The child’s description

Describe the child in one paragraph, including, where relevant, the child’s views. Use direct quotes if possible. Please consider carefully what needs to be included.

• Name: First name only. Exceptionally, for legal and other reasons, you can use a pseudonym, ideally stating why the child’s real name cannot be used. You can also mention a child’s abbreviated name.
• Date of birth: To further protect children’s identities, only the child’s age (or month and year of birth in the open area) will actually appear on the website.
• Personality: Start with a few descriptive words. Be positive, yet realistic. Find ways of being constructive about any emotional or behavioural difficulties (which may well be temporary or linked to the child’s past or current situation). There is no need to describe the child’s physical appearance, unless to mention exceptional height. However, if no photograph is available, a brief description may be useful.
• Interests, hobbies, talents, likes and dislikes: These help describe the child and could match the interests of prospective family members.
• Child’s development and needs: Give relevant details of social, emotional and behavioural development, including any special needs and probable outcome. Describe disabled children using the social model of disability. Mention recent developments and progress. Only include details of eating and sleeping patterns for very young children. Remember that enquirers can ask the child’s social worker for more information.
• Care history: It is usually relevant to include the date when the child arrived in his/her current placement and brief, appropriate details of why the child became looked after. Be realistic but avoid including extensive details of past difficulties or trauma, or blame of a birth parent. More information can be given later.
• Health issues: Where appropriate, include details of specific conditions and genetic risks, as well as the implications in terms of treatment. If the child has a particular diagnosis or disability, please ask your agency’s medical adviser to put together a short paragraph explaining how this condition or disability affects this particular child.

Current research suggests it is useful to mention the possible future developmental effects of the birth mother’s use of drugs or alcohol during pregnancy. Also consider whether to mention the possible developmental and genetic implications of a birth parent’s history of mental ill-health, such as schizophrenia, or their learning difficulties.

There is no need to say that a child is healthy, as this will be assumed.

• Education: Mention the kind of nursery or school attended (mainstream/special), general progress, assessment of special educational needs, additional support, teachers’ and child’s views. In the published profile, the word ‘school’ on its own will indicate mainstream school, unless specified otherwise.

What’s behind the words?

Words can carry very strong meanings for families, and this leads us to prefer certain ways of saying things, although this is constantly under review. For example:

Suffered or experienced? Although ‘suffered’ could be seen as more realistic, we feel this could publicly label the child as a victim and possibly lay blame on their birth family, which could compromise future relationships. ‘Experienced’ feels more neutral, as in ‘he experienced lack of care’.

Struggles or tries? Here again, from the child’s point of view, we feel that ‘struggles’ conveys the idea of failure, while ‘tries’ highlights the child’s efforts and resilience.

Poor/limited or some/a little? The aim is to focus on what the child can do, rather than on what they cannot do. So a child who ‘has poor concentration’ could become one ‘with a short concentration span’ or ‘needing help to concentrate more’.

Aggressive or challenging? Of course, the profile needs to present a realistic picture of the kind of behaviour future parents might have to deal with. It should not mislead, but should also avoid labelling the child too early and too publicly. Another carer and the prospect of more stability might lead to a change in their behaviour.

Bossy or taking on too much responsibility? ‘Bossy’ may well describe the child’s behaviour towards their siblings, but it implies this is an enduring characteristic. It may be more helpful to suggest that they can be helped to be less controlling and learn to let go of their previous role as caregiver.

Children’s details

For a website referral

Please include the relevant details when creating the Child Profile; there is no need to repeat these in the actual profiles.

• Ethnic and cultural descent: This item is about the birth parents’ ethnicity and culture, not their nationality. This is a complex issue, and people often use different terms to describe themselves. For consistency, Be My Parent is using the classification recommended by the Commission for Racial Equality:
  - Asian Bangladeshi, Asian Indian, Asian Pakistani, Asian other
  - Chinese
  - black African, black Caribbean, black other
  - white British, white Irish, white other
  - white and Asian, white and black African, white and black Caribbean, mixed other.

Only include language and religion if they are a significant part of the birth parents’ heritage. If you are unsure about the origins of one of the birth parents, include the details you have.

• Type of placement: Specify whether an adoptive or a permanent foster family is being sought, or whether either would be considered.

• Type of family needed – Restrictions: In the child’s best interests, be as flexible as possible in order to maximise enquiries from prospective families. By explaining the qualities you are looking for, rather than placing restrictions, you could widen your search and avoid families feeling second best and deciding against making an enquiry at all!

For example, could families offering lots of individual attention be considered as well as those where the child would be the only or youngest? Would a single carer with good support networks be as suitable as a two-parent family? Could carers with positive gender role models within their family or support networks be as appropriate as a male and female couple? Would suitable families be missed if the profile were restricted to approved families? Is a geographical restriction really necessary at this stage?

• Type of family needed – Ethnicity: Always specify the way in which the child’s ethnic and cultural needs should be met in their new family. Only mention language or religion if it plays a significant part in the child’s needs.

Be My Parent is committed to the principles of the Children Act 1989, the Adoption and Children Act 2002 and the Children (Scotland) Act 1995, which require agencies to give due consideration to the child’s religious persuasion, ‘racial’ origin, and cultural and linguistic background. The value statement underpinning the national minimum standards for adoption (England and Wales) states that the child’s ethnic origin, cultural background, religion and language will be fully recognised and positively valued and promoted when decisions are made.

For example, most children will need a family that reflects their birth parents’ ethnic and cultural identity. However, for mixed-ethnicity children – especially where delay is a major issue – it may be that, as well as a family of similar mixed ethnicity, you wish to consider families who can actively develop the children’s ethnic and cultural identity through close relevant links in their family and support networks.

• Contact: Give details of levels of direct and indirect contact envisaged with the birth family and others. At this stage, it is preferable not to be too prescriptive, as contact is often best negotiated when a new family is found.

For example, ‘indirect contact is envisaged with the child’s birth parents, as well as direct contact with her sister, featured on this page; direct contact with her birth mother to be negotiated’.

• Legal status: Please be specific and, if relevant, mention the birth parents’ views on the plan for permanence.

• Support: Provide full details, including financial support, as this could make the difference between a family or agency deciding for or against making an enquiry, particularly for larger sibling groups. For England and Wales, refer to any plan made for support services under the Adoption and Children Act 2002.

Additional information

When you refer a child to Be My Parent you will have the opportunity to provide additional information on the child (“Disabilities” section in the "Create Child Profile" screen), which should only be mentioned in the profile if it is relevant. The information will be treated confidentially by Be My Parent staff and used for non-identifying statistical purposes. We will not add it to the profile without consulting you.

Length of profile

The advantage of web profiles is that there is no space limitation, which gives you the opportunity to say a lot more about a child. However, quality is usually better than quantity! Providing information in all the above categories should give a fairly complete picture of the child.

Remember that you have the opportunity to provide quotes from the child, their foster carers, teachers or social worker, which will make the profile lively and stand out. We would recommend a maximum word count of 500 words for an individual child, and 900 words for a sibling group.

Don’t forget that if you are opting to feature children in the open area of the website, you will need to provide us with a short profile which will appear with the child’s photograph in that area. This should be no longer than 50 words.

Last updated: 10 September 07

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