Family Album for Adoption

Family Album for Adoption

Family Album – Guidelines/Tips

Electronic Family Album:

Develop a Word or Power Point version of your family email album. This version will be used to help match your family with a child. It will be submitted to CPS with your home study. Make 6 to 8 pages in Word or 6 to 8 slides in Power Point. Please make sure the file size is fewer than 4 MB. Please do not use a website link, but create an actual file that can be emailed. If you are having trouble compressing the file size go ahead and send it in (we have photo shop software that allows us to compress most files unless they are in a PDF format).   Email the album toadoption@covenantkids.org

Sample Family Album Power Point

Sample Album Created in Microsoft Word

 

The Layout:

  • Place your family’s name (including last name) on the first page.
  • Only 2 to 3 pictures on a page or slide.
  • Place pictures in a chronological or thematic order.
  • Write captions for each picture or set of pictures.
  • When referring to yourselves, use your first names.
  • Include pages showing “a day in our life” or “what we do for fun”; activities to help CPS know more about your family life.
  • Be creative, but not too complicated.

The Photos:  Pictures should be modest, conservative, and providing a feeling of comfort and warmth

  • Include photos of your immediate family members and:

«  Your pets

«  Pictures of your house & yard

«  Rooms of the house-especially the child’s bedroom

«  Your church

«  His/her school

«  Neighborhood park or location where your family spends time

«  Favorite vacation spots

«  Your favorite activities or hobbies

«  Do not include many pictures of additional people outside your immediate family – the more faces, the more confusing it can be for those viewing the album.

 

Hard Copy Family Album:

After an electronic album has been sent to Covenant Kids, now it is time to create an actual hard copy of an album that will be used once your family is matched with a child for adoption. This album may be a printed and bound version of your electronic album or you can elaborate on the hard copy and include more pictures/information geared toward your identified child.  Again, this photo album is to be a picture story of your life, as a single, as a couple or as a family with children.

Once your family has been matched with a child for adoption, the hard album will be shared with the child prior to meeting your family in order to familiarize the child with you and ease some of their fearfulness over meeting their new family.

Because CK matches families with adoptive placements throughout the state of Texas, in most instances this family album will be mailed to the child prior to meeting the family. For this reason, the hard copy of the album must be sturdy and able to fit into a regular 9×12 mailing envelope.

Guidelines:

  • Make the album sturdy so it can be mailed and looked at repeatedly.
  • Gear the album to the child’s age; the older the child, the more words the family can use.
  • Up to 20 pages in the book (10 pages front & back – no more).
  • Make several color copies of the album.  The family may want to keep the original at home and send duplicates to Covenant Kids.

 

The Layout:

  • Only 4-6 pictures on a page.
  • Place pictures in a chronological or thematic order.
  • Write captions for each picture/set of pictures.
  • Use first names when referring to yourself and others
  • Include pages showing “a day in our life” activities to help the child feel more secure about his/her new home.
  • Be creative, but not cutesy.
  • Include same type of pictures as noted above for electronic album (i.e. immediate family, school, church, pets, bedroom, yard, etc).
  • Pictures should be modest, conservative, and homey and provide a feeling of comfort, warmth, and responsibility.