Making a referral with Be My Parent's referral form

You can make a referral to either the Be My Parent website, newspaper or both services by faxing or posting us a completed hard copy referral form - including the child’s profile and photograph, and, if applicable, a purchase or official order form.

Find out about referral word counts and costs and deadlines.

Get hold of a referral form
Complete the referral form
Send us the referral form

A slightly different procedure applies if you are repeating a feature. Please note that we will review a profile every four months.

Get hold of a referral form

You can download a referral form here:

BMP referral form print format - PDF (458 KB)
BMP referral form electronic format (2.9 MB)

You will need to print it out and send it to us by post or fax.

Complete the referral form

Please take extra care to fill in all the relevant sections of the referral form, including the number of issues, your fax number and all necessary signatures, so your referral isn't delayed while we chase up this information. If you haven't specified otherwise, we will assume one issue, or a standard profile for individual children.

Booking in siblings

• If the primary plan is for the children to be placed together: The children should be referred together on a single referral form so that they can be featured together. Please list them in age order on the referral form, starting with the oldest. If your agency would also consider separate families for specific children within the sibling group, then we can include this information in the profile. Please provide details of the proposed split of the sibling group, if available, to assist enquirers. For example, that an adoptive family would also be considered for Jessica and Elijah together and a separate family for Zac.

• If the primary plan is for the children to be placed separately: A separate referral form should be completed for each child within the sibling group. Please indicate the names of any other siblings featured in the same issue (in section 1.4 of the form). If your agency would also consider enquiries from families who would consider caring for the children together - we can include this information in the profile. Please make this information clear in the child’s profile.

Send us the referral form

Send all the documents in your referral (referral form; child's profile; photograph) at the same time and as soon as they are ready. This will help us to process them smoothly and if it becomes necessary to contact you, we can do this in good time.

If the referral is not complete, we will contact you to ask for the missing item.

If you or your representative (photographer, foster carer) need to contact us separately, please include:

• the relevant issue of Be My Parent (if referring to the newspaper)
• the child’s first name and date of birth
• your name and agency.

For security reasons, we strongly advise that you do not send referral forms by email, but instead fax or post the referral form, photo and profile.

It is advisable to use recorded or – especially near the newspaper deadline, if applicable – special delivery.

If referring to the newspaper, on the day of the deadline, the referral should arrive:

• by post: by the day’s ordinary post or by special delivery
• by fax: by midnight
• in person: by 5pm at the Be My Parent office.

If necessary, photos, and sometimes profiles, can follow later but it is best to contact us first.

We need to receive the referral form by the deadline to guarantee inclusion in the Be My Parent newspaper, if applicable. Late referrals may exceptionally be considered, at the discretion of Be My Parent and space permitting. Otherwise, the profile will be included in the next available issue.

Repeating a feature

The Be My Parent referral form remains valid for one year, so for children featured within the last 12 months, just fill in Sections 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.5 and 6.1 of the form, or fax us this information:

• the child’s first name and date of birth
• the last issue in which they were featured
• the number of issues you are now requesting (one, two or three)
• whether you wish to re-use the previous profile or make amendments
• whether you are re-using the previous photograph or sending a new one (usually preferable).

For children featured over a year ago, you need to fill in all sections of this form. Also note that siblings previously featured together will require new, individual forms if featured separately.

Four-month review

As part of Be My Parent’s service to our users and to promote good social work practice, we review the child’s profile and photograph at least every four months, and will discuss with you any suggestions.

This means looking at the number of enquiries the child has received and thinking about changes to the profile that might either increase this number, or draw in more suitable prospective families.

Although we will also consider the quality of the photograph, we do not necessarily ask for updates unless the photo was taken more than six months previously for a child under five, or more than a year previously for a child aged over five, as children change so quickly. New photos can also catch the eye of regular readers.

Last updated: 13 February 12

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