We designed OAM with you in mind
We know you’ve been through so much to get here and we want to make this next step in your adoption journey as comfortable as possible.
Sign up to get started6 Steps to post your profile
Your profile is the key to being matched. Birth parents review the profiles and choose a family that they feel will be the best alternative to parent their child.
We are going to help you present your authentic self in your profile, so birth parents get a sense of the real you. Here’s how we do that:
Sign up for our newsletter and receive your FREE Profile Writing Guidelines
*You’ll need to upload your first page and signature page of your Ontario SAFE Homestudy signed by you and your adoption practitioner. Your homestudy must be less than a year old as well as your police checks and child welfare checks. Acceptable formats include PDF, PNG, or JPG.
There is a 3-day grace period before payment is applied to allow time for you to send us your full profile details, us to review your information, and then publish.
Submit your completed profile including text and photos
We’ll post your profile! After you've sent us your details, we’ll aim to have it posted within 48 hours.
No set up fees and a flat monthly rate.
Our goal is to make your matching journey as comfortable as possible. Once you sign up for your OAM membership, you will receive easy to follow instructions on how to access your private membership account. We will exchange messages and profile documentation through this private account.
Benefits of membership:
Profile posting on our site until matched
Presentation on our social media platforms until matched (optional)
Discounted profile writing and editing services
FREE consultation services
Cancellation at anytime
Making your profile uniquely yours
Because we want you to have the best possible chance of being matched, we will ensure that your profile includes all of the information that birth parents need to make this critical decision for their child. Your profile includes the following:
- Cover Photo and Introduction Statement
- Note to Birth Parents
- Up to 25 photos of you and your family
- At a Glance
- About Us (includes key sections from Profile Writing Guidelines)
- Get in Touch button (links to your email)
- Links to OAM social media accounts (optional)
You may be confident preparing your profile or you may want our professional writer and photographer/videographer to help with it. Either way, we want to help make your profile shine, so are providing OAM members with these great services!
Frequently asked questions
Birth parents look at the profiles listed on the website and find the prospective adopter/s they feel most connected to. That connection is their starting point to determine who would make the best alternate parent(s) for their child. They then reach out to prospective adopters through their provided contact information.
This is the most frequently asked question and absolutely reasonable. Unfortunately, we can't predict how long it takes to be chosen by birth parents. In our experience, some prospective adopters are matched soon after completing their SAFE Homestudy and PRIDE, while some take months, years, or never.
Before birth parents gain access to your whole profile, we ensure that they reside in Ontario to avoid interprovincial complications. However, we have no means to legitimize their desire to make an adoption plan for their child. Contact your adoption practitioner or licensee/ licensed agency after being approached by a birth parent. Do not jump into a relationship or meeting prior to speaking with your adoption practitioner or licensee/licensed agency.
Although being contacted by a birth parent is always exciting, we strongly advise that you do not jump into a relationship immediately. You will need to contact your adoption practitioner or licensee/licensed agency immediately. In addition to this, make sure that none of these illegal circumstances are happening:
- The birth parent or a third party is asking for money, gifts or favours of any kind.
- The birth parent or a third party is asking to do this adoption without an adoption licensee/ licensed agency.
- The birth parent is unwilling to meet with a counsellor or adoption agency.
We recommend you review pages 5-6 of the Memorandum For Prospective Adoptive Parent(s) to guide you on prohibited exchanges between birth parents and prospective adopters.
If none of the preceding circumstances are happening, then it is highly advisable to contact your adoption practitioner for guidance on next steps.
You should first acknowledge receipt of their email and let them know that you are going to advise your adoption practitioner of the potential match. You can inform the birth parent that since all Ontario adoptions need to be facilitated and finalized by a licensee/adoption agency, your adoption practitioner will ensure that the birth parent is provided with a counsellor. In the meantime, you should limit contact with the birth parent until the birth parents has a counsellor to help facilitate your communications. All adoptions must be facilitated by a licensee/adoption agency and approved through the Ontario Ministry of Children and Community Services.
We know this waiting period is difficult, which is why we recommend keeping busy in the following ways:
- Continue all of your regular lifestyle routines including work, exercise, travel, etc.
- Prepare further for adoption by enrolling in targeted webinars and consider joining a “waiting families” group.
- Reduce the anxiety and stress you may be feeling with a therapeutic writing workshop or private session. Learn about the benefits of therapeutic writing here.
- Tell friends/colleagues/family that they have your permission to spread the word that you are hoping to adopt. We’ve seen incredible matches happen this way!