Writing a profile

What is the profile for?
How do you write the profile?
Writing about sibling groups
Writing about twins
What about siblings featured separately?
The child's description
What's behind the words?
The child's further details
Additional information
Avoid barriers and maximise your enquiries!

For more information on writing profiles, please see:

• Sample adoption and fostering profiles for Be My Parent
• Writing the right profile
  A social worker's account of trying to write a profile for Be My Parent
• How do you create that first impression?
  Hedi Argent, independent adoption consultant and trainer, talks about the challenges of writing a child's profile

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

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.

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 Be My Parent is seen by a large number of people, profiles could be read by the child or someone who knows them. Therefore, the profile should not include in-depth background details, or sensitive information that could potentially embarrass or distress anyone involved, most notably the child, now or when they are older. This includes information relating to abuse (including sexual abuse), sexualised behaviour, 'soiling' and 'wetting', or sensitive information regarding third parties, such as the child's birth parents.

We advise that you hint at these difficulties to assist enquirers, and explain these issues in more detail to appropriate enquirers. In terms of writing a profile, for an older child experiencing enuresis, you could for example write that they "need support with some aspects of their personal care".

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

Writing about sibling groups

If the primary plan is for the children to be placed together, we advise that they should be featured together. If your agency would also consider separate families for specific children within the sibling group, then you should 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.

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.

Writing about 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.

What about siblings featured separately?

Siblings who are to be featured in separate profiles will be published on the same page unless you request otherwise. This will provide more information for prospective families.

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 each child’s profile.

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. Wherever possible, we advise that you feature the child using their real name.

• When to use a pseudonym: Exceptionally, for legal or other reaons, you can use a pseudonym, ideally indicating when the child's real name cannot be used. You can also mention a child's abbreviated name. Some of the children in Be My Parent have less common names, or more common names with unusual spellings. We work to protect the child's identity by not publishing their full date of birth and name of their local authority. However, with modern technology, this basic level of information could be sufficient for someone to gain access to details of the child's birth certificate and related information about the birth family. In these instances, we would advise that you use a pseudonym. Alternatively, if the child has a more common name with an unusual spelling, you could feature the child with the more common spelling so that the pronunciation remains the same, for instance "Shardonnay" could be featured as "Chardonnay". When selecting a pseudonym, you may want to choose a name which sounds as close as possible to the child’s real name, and consider the child’s ethnic and cultural identity as reflected in their real name: for instance you could change Flynt to Finn, or Aishwarya to Aisha.

• Date of birth: Write out in full, to avoid errors. To further protect children’s identities, only the child’s month and year of birth will actually be shown in Be My Parent.
• 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, for example, it is to mention something like 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. For website profiles, we provide hyperlinks for specific health conditions to our online glossary, which can provide readers with more detailed information.

• 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.

The child's further details

Please include the relevant details on the referral form/online referral system; there is no need to repeat these in the actual profiles. It is not always easy to know what works best in practice, and we would be happy to discuss queries with you.

• 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 Census:
  - 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 if it is a significant part of the birth parents’ heritage. Be My Parent recommends that religious information is only mentioned when it is a matching consideration. If you are unsure about the origins of one of the birth parents, include the details on ethnicity that 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, culture, language and religious considerations: 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.

Over many years, research and practice experience indicates that children usually do best when brought up in a family who reflects or develops their ethnic, cultural or religious identity. Where it is not possible to match a child with a family of a similar ethnicity to theirs, or this is likely to create significant delay - particularly for children who are black or of mixed ethnicity - we would advise that you also consider families who could actively develop the children’s ethnic and cultural identity through close relevant links in their family and support networks.

• Type of family needed – Family composition: Be My Parent works to widen the pool of prospective adopters and foster carers to ensure as many children as possible have the opportunity to be placed in appropriate permanent families. We are committed to providing equality and diversity for the children, families and agencies using our services, and this is reflected in our profiling house style. Wherever possible, chidren will be featured as needing a one or two-parent adoptive or permanent foster family. We will also work to avoid phraseology that excludes enquiries on the basis of family composition or sexual orientation. This includes not using words such as "mummy and daddy", to the exclusion of other family compositions based on relationship status or sexuality. Please contact us for further discussion if you consider that the latter terminology needs to be included in a profile.

• Type of family needed – Type of agency: In order to maximise the child's placement opportunities for adoption or permanent fostering, we advise that referring agencies are open to enquiries from prospective families at all stages of the process, including those who are not yet with an agency, as well as families who are approved or are being assessed by a local authority, voluntary adoption/fostering agency or an independent fostering agency.

• 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.

• Preferred area for placement: You now have the opportunity to indicate the area(s) of the UK from which you would prefer to receive enquiries from prospective families. See map below for key.
  
  You can indicate "any in the UK" to be less restrictive, or be more speficic about one or more of the following areas: Central England, London, Northern England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, South-east England, South-west England, Wales. We advise that you are as open as possible to help maximise appropriate enquiries for the child. However, this should mean that you will give serious considerations to enquiries from families living in these countries and regions.

Additional information

When you refer a child to Be My Parent you will have the opportunity to provide additional information on the child (point 2.9 if using the referral form), 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.

Avoid barriers and maximise your enquiries!

Be My Parent represents an opportunity to profile a child throughout the UK and widen their placement opportunities for permanence. When writing your profile and considering the enquiries you receive, we advise that you are as flexible and creative as possible. Avoid barriers where possible and get the most out of your referral!

• Avoid geographical restrictions
• Consider enquirers at all stages of the adoption process, including those you may need to assess
• Consider enquiries from local authority and voluntary fostering or adoption agencies, as well as those from independent fostering agencies
• Avoid limiting yourself to specific family structures, such as two parent families with male and female carers
• Consider all family compositions: including one and two-parent families, same-sex carers, single male and female carers, and other family compositions such as an adult daughter/father household.
• Avoid narrow specification of ethnicity, cultural, religious or linguistic considerations: consider families who may be able to meet the child’s needs and can actively promote the child’s identity.
• Avoid requesting experience of disability or parenting experience. This may result in prospective carers who are well motivated and with transferable care skills being ruled out
• Consider permanent fostering, particularly for older children who are still waiting, or profile a child for needing permanent foster carers who could consider special guardianship.

Last updated: 13 February 12

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