Write and update your profile

Profiles for Washington families and prospective parents

This page provides information on keeping your family profile updated. To create a family profile, you first need an account with Northwest Adoption Exchange. Don't yet have an account? Learn more and start your account today.

What is a family profile?

In the process of creating your account, you will be emailed information to create a family profile. Your family profile helps caseworkers find you. Your profile shares photos and written information about you, your family, and your preferences. By viewing your profile, caseworkers can learn about you and identify if you might be a match for a youth who they support.

A few key features of family profiles include:

• Your profile is part of your account. Family profiles are a feature of holding an account with NWAE. All families with an account will be asked to create a profile.
• Your profile is protected. Only caseworkers and our staff have access to view your profile. Your password-protected account safeguards your data privacy.
• You can add a video. As part of your family profile, we would love to support you in creating a video that represents you and your family. In addition to being shared on your profile, videos can also be used for Youth-Led Permanency Consultation or for you to keep and share.
• You can update your profile. We know that as you move through the adoption process things might change. Make sure to update your profile to ensure caseworkers have all the information they need. We have gathered some tips to help your family profile shine!

Update your profile

Keeping your profile current ensures caseworkers have an accurate picture of your family, helping them make informed decisions for the best match. Have you adopted a child, completed training, or discovered new resources? Be sure to update your profile with any new relevant information.

When making updates, try to refresh all parts of your profile at once. For example, if you no longer have a pet, let us know so we can avoid confusion—especially for youth needing a pet-free home.

By keeping your profile updated, you make the matching process smoother and more effective.

Update my profile

Profile writing tips

Help caseworkers learn about your family.

The following tips will help you use the family profile form questions to create a narrative that gives youth caseworkers the information they need to identify if your family might be a good fit for a child or youth on their caseload.

Tell caseworkers about you

Who lives at home with you? Some youth will thrive with other kids or pets, but others may need your sole attention. Sometimes more adults in the home can be a plus. For some youth, a parent that doesn’t work or who works from home might be ideal.

Share your family values. It’s important to let caseworkers know about your values and what’s important to your family. Let them know what you do for fun, your interests, and how you spend your time. They want to understand your family’s personality and how you might resonate with a particular youth.

Share what is flexible. Caseworkers also want to know about the ways you might be willing to adapt your current lifestyle for the possible needs of youth. For instance, if you love to travel, would you be willing to do that less or take more local trips to accommodate a youth who needs stability and routine?

Be brief. Caseworkers often have limited time, but they will take a deeper dive if they think you might be a good fit.

Share about trauma and loss training

Aside from the Caregiver Core Training (CCT), what classes or trainings have you taken to prepare to parent someone who has experienced trauma and loss?

Generally, youth in care have experienced trauma that can lead to a variety of behaviors and support needs.

Caseworkers want to see that your family understands the long-term effects of trauma and has committed to learning the knowledge and skills to effectively support the youth in a way that promotes healing, growth, and relationship-building for everyone.

Let caseworkers know about any other trainings you’ve taken related to trauma and loss. If you have professional, volunteer, or lived experiences around supporting others through trauma, you can add that here as well.

Name how you will support a child’s unique needs

What experiences have you had that will help you parent a child that may require educational, developmental or behavioral supports to help them thrive?

Consider lived experience in foster care, classes taken, child placements you've had, and work, family, or volunteer experiences.

What related experience do you have? This experience can come in many forms, such as having your own children (especially if they have support needs), being a foster parent, mentoring or other regular volunteering with children/youth, or even through a relevant profession.

If you have personal experiences with the child welfare system, your lived experience is highly valued.

If you do not have an answer for this question, please put "n/a". We recommend updating your profile once you have gained experience as it will help caseworkers consider your family for children and youth who they work with.

Show you have community supports

What have you done to identify services and supports in your community for children/youth who may have trauma as well as educational, developmental, or behavioral needs?

Caseworkers want to know that you have identified resources in your community to support youth who may need educational, behavioral and developmental services to help the youth be successful and thrive.

If you have not identified services or supports yet, please put "n/a". We recommend updating your profile once you have, so that caseworkers have more information with which to consider your family.

Consider your strengths and limitations

Every family has different strengths and limitations. Are there certain ages, backgrounds, or needs that you feel may not be the best fit for your home?

You and your family may have already given this a lot of thought during the home study process. What are the characteristics that would make you not able to consider a particular youth? Be thoughtful about what is an absolute “no” and what you might be willing to learn more about. Please keep this to one paragraph only.

Share family photos

Share recent photos that include all legal members of your family.

Find three-five clear, current photos of your family to share with caseworkers through your profile. This is another way for a caseworker to get a quick sense of your family, including how many children there are in your family and perhaps even pets.

Please note: Do not include children who are in foster care or not yet legally adopted.

All photos should be in focus and high quality. At least one should be a portrait-style photo of your family that can be featured as the thumbnail for caseworkers to see as they click on your profile. Please do not send more than five photos. We cannot include more and will not be able to go through more than five photos.

Double check your submission

Look over your answers or have someone else review it before you submit the form.

You may be eager to publish your profile but take the time to review what you’ve written to be sure it is clear and gives an accurate portrayal of your family.