LDS Family Services has announced a groundbreaking new deal with the world’s largest adoption website, Adoption.com.
The two organizations are working together to increase adoption opportunities for hopeful adoptive LDS parents. Adoption.com has created a free site for Latter-day Saint couples at adoption.com/lds. Through February 2016, LDS Family Services will pay the $199/month cost of a parent profile on the site. After February, members can still use the service at a substantial discount.
The site was developed to help Latter-day Saint adoptive parents connect with those who are considering placing a child for adoption. Ward and stake leaders, LDS Family Services workers, and the general public can access profiles of prospective adoptive parents. The site that was formerly used for this purpose, ItsAboutLove.org, will be redirected to adoption.com/lds beginning March 31, 2015.
This new arrangement makes LDS adoption accessible for more families. There are now only 4 criteria a potential LDS adoptive couple must meet:
- Be sealed in the temple to your spouse.
- Have current temple recommends.
- Get a bishop’s recommendation.
- Complete an Adoption.com home study.
Some of the previous criteria, such as requirements regarding infertility and a limit on the number of children adoptive parents already have, no longer apply.
Last June, LDS Family Services announced that it would shift from an adoption agency to adoption counseling. They also said that there would be a solution to provide greater adoption opportunities for LDS families. Today’s solution gives more families more exposure than ever before.
Last Friday, the website had a major upgrade. “With this new deal, we wanted to do something much larger,” explains Adoption.com CEO Nathan Gwilliam. “We wanted to revolutionize how adoption and parent profiles work.” In the past, parent profiles were similar to dating sites, but the new Adoption.com profiles integrate social technology from many platforms.
“We added a wall very similar to Facebook where you can post text and photos and videos,” he explains. “We created a section that we call ‘Favorites’ and it works just like Pinterest.” There are also elements inspired by LinkedIn, Flickr, and YouTube.
“We’ve taken these very popular social concepts on the internet that people are already using extensively to connect with others, and we’ve brought them into this parent profile.” This revolutionary approach lets single parents considering adoption get to know the prospective adoptive parents in a powerful new way that fits today’s social age.
Below is a brief explanatory video with answers to basic questions.
Adoption.com was founded by Nathan Gwilliam as a BYU student in 1997. “It was a BYU project,” Gwilliam says, “that’s grown into the world’s most-used adoption site.”
To contact Adoption.com, email parentprofiles@adoption.com or call 1-800-326-4596.
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