Frequently Asked Questions
What are the differences between your two service plans?
I think I've connected with someone. Can I downgrade or pause my current plan?
Who is allowed to join Adoptimist?
What kind of proof of my home study do I need to provide?
How do I know birth parents will be looking at my profile?
What is the difference between a connection and an adoption?
What are the differences between your two service plans?
Any family can connect on Adoptimist. But our two plans differ in the amount of exposure you’ll be receiving on the site and internet. The better the plan, the more exposure you’ll be receiving. And consequently, the better your chances are for a connection.
Learn all about the differences between Adoptimist's two service plans.
I’ve heard a lot of good things about your Premium Plan and am considering upgrading. What exactly makes the plan so innovative and effective?
The Premium Plan is definitely our most effective marketing strategy. While we make no guarantees, Premium is generally the fastest way to connect on the site. And while not every connection will lead to an adoption, this plan is still the best and most effective way to get connected. Here’s why:
- Your profile will have the highest visibility on the Adoptimist site.
- Your profile will be unlimited, meaning you can load it with as many photos, blog entries, and videos as you want.
- Your profile page will be marketed with a customized visual ad banner campaign.
- Your family will appear on all of our social media sites, including Facebook.
This combination of features makes the service a value at $150 per month. There is simply no better way to get your family this kind of exposure without spending hundreds of dollars each month. We are experts at internet adoption marketing and will get your profile noticed.
No other adoption-connect website can currently come close to offering this level of service, expertise, and affordability.
Your site has so many families. Even with a paid plan, how do I stand a chance of being discovered and getting connected? Am I better off on a smaller site?
Over the past year, the site has grown in leaps and bounds. But that shouldn't scare you off. As with any social / connect site, the larger it gets the more successful it becomes. As we continue to grow, the number of connections on the site grows too. And we've recently introduced new viewing and search options that make it easier than ever for your family to be discovered.
You can always consider joining a smaller site if you wish. But be sure to make an informed decision. Here are some things you might first want to consider: How much traffic is the service really generating? Is it actively advertising and pursuing social media to bring more traffic to your profile? A large, national service like Adoptimist has resources, advertising options, and technologies that will consistently get your profile in front of as many eyes as possible. That kind of consistent exposure is hard to come by.
I think I've connected with someone. Can I downgrade or pause my current plan?
Our marketing plans are built to be flexible to meet your changing needs. We invite our families to test all three in order to find the right one. If you think you have established a solid connection with an expectant mother and want to stop your paid plan, you may do so at any time without risk of penalty or hidden fees. Just cancel your plan, which will close your profile - though it will remain in our system. You can restart your paid plan at any time if it ever becomes necessary to do so. Just click on the "account" link when logged in to make the switch.
Who is allowed to join Adoptimist?
Adoptimist is for ALL expectant parents considering adoption and ALL adoptive parents. It is our mission to help build as many families as we possibly can. Any individual or family that is fully prepared to adopt and has successfully completed a home study (with criminal and abuse clearances) can join Adoptimist.
What kind of proof of my home study do I need to provide?
Please review the following homestudy requirements before submitting your documents to us.
I already have an adoption website. Can I use it with Adoptimist or do I need to create a profile through your system?
We realize that you may have spent a lot of time, effort, and money building your personal website. But all our members are required to create an Adoptimist profile in order to appear on the site. Luckily, because you already have a website, you can quickly setup your profile by copying and pasting directly from it. And once you do build an Adoptimist profile, you can easily place a link to your current site in several key places including: the Family Facts area, your intro letter, and your blog.
Even though I am working with Adoptimist, do I still need to hire an adoption agency and / or lawyer?
Absolutely. We are not an adoption agency or a law firm. Nor do we provide post-connection consulting, advice, or assistance of any kind. We only can help make connections between expectant mothers and adoptive parents. So you need to be ready when a birth parent gets in touch because you alone will be responsible for pursuing the opportunity.
How do I know if anyone will be looking at my profile?
We’ll be directing targeted traffic from our extensive advertising campaign to our site and profile pages. At any given point in time, we have many active expectant mother members on our site. Additionally, for our paying families we offer a number of useful statistics and data regarding profile views.
What is the difference between a connection and an adoption?
Adoptimist connects, or introduces, expectant mothers considering adoption and adoptive parents. This means that through our service an expectant mother and adoptive parent may form a non-binding agreement that could eventually lead to an actual adoption. A connection and an adoption are two completely separate concepts. Connections occur on our website. Adoptions do not.
Are you a tech company or an adoption company?
We are an adoption-connect company that thinks and acts like a tech company. This means that we solve adoption-related challenges through the careful and compassionate use of technology. It means we are innovative by nature and ready and willing to test our cutting-edge systems extensively before ever bringing them to our consumers. The benefit of coming from the tech world is that we are results-oriented and innovative thinkers who will stop at nothing to make sure our families are receiving the very best that technology can offer.
What is your success rate? Do you offer any guarantees?
We don’t offer a success rate or guarantees.
We have many testimonials and adoption success stories from our families, which you should definitely review. We have also recently launched an adoption story blog written by former Adoptimist families with tips and suggestions for other adoptive parents. But statistics regarding the number of connections and adoptions are too difficult for us to try to quantify. This may be disappointing to hear. But here is an explanation:
- First, there's no way for us to accurately tally communications or connections received on the site because most families are contacted through their private email addresses and private phone numbers.
Adoptimist is a largely unregulated platform in that sense.
- We don't force families to provide information about their connections or adoptions, which most families on the site will appreciate.
- We do have a private messaging system. But only a fraction of communications occur through it. We generally will only review it when there is a reported issue that warrants further exploration.
- Many families that connect or even adopt never inform us of their success on the site. It is our policy not to disturb families during this delicate time when they are brand-new parents.
- A family's success depends greatly on several factors out of our control, such as: which plan they choose, what kind of profile they maintain while they are on the site, and how long they
remain on the site.
What we can tell you is that families are making connections daily on the site. And we are confident that we do more outreach & advertising than any other connect site available and it isn't even close. Furthermore, our network of connections is large and often expands well beyond the site. For example, adoption professionals often take connections made on the site (through their families) and move them around to their other families who may not even be on Adoptimist - which we never get credit for. Also attorneys and agencies often come to our site and connect with families directly, matching them to particular situations. We've even heard of several families connecting from Adoptimist that were not even members on the site (through their friends that were).
Finally, Adoptimist believes in letting our families be families and not pushing them to provide us with info they don't feel comfortable sharing. There is a human element to everything we do and though this certainly hurts our standing, it is the way we choose to operate. But we are very confident our service will direct expectant mothers considering adoption to our site and your profile. So if you want to start getting exposure for your family and connecting with expectant parents, then you’ve definitely come to the right site.