When Holly and Blake Schwendiman studied online registry services that connect prospective adoptive parents with parents who are planning to place their baby for adoption, they were disappointed in the $400-$600 yearly rate for the 1-2 page “letter format” that looked identical for all clients.
“We wanted a better option that was affordable to everyone,” says Holly.
So in August of 2000, they launched HopeToAdopt.com. “Our goal is to help adoptive families by providing tools to assist them in their search for a match.”
While their service is fee-based, Holly and Blake say they often pass on information and situations free of charge to their families. They do not perform agency or legal services; they only provide marketing resources.
HopetoAdopt.com offers:
- A five-page adoption Web site for $59 per year
- Banner ads that offer additional exposure for $50 per year
- Web page, banner ads, and business cards package for $99 per year
Their competitors charge over $100 per month, says Holly.
They can afford to charge far less than their competitors because Blake wrote the computer program that automates Web site creation, and Holly designed the site. Their site’s user-friendly tools include:
- Automated program for site creation
- Unique five-page profile format
- Personal URLs
- Ability to review and track personal site statistics
- Ability to monitor and filter correspondence for scams/spam
- NO advertisements on individual sites
- Community bulletin board that provides support and friendship during the journey
“I wanted families to be in charge of what their ‘file’ looked like and how it presented them. I wanted them to be able to edit it any time without additional waits or fees,” says Holly. Consequently, the Web site format is the only pre-prepared element; families choose their own content and theme.
Prospective parents create their site as they answer questions and make selections—no programming skills are required. As an added bonus, says Holly, families create their entire site without commitment or obligation. “If they like it when they’re done, they can choose to activate it.”
When they activate their site, clients are given a personal Web site address such as: www.blakeandholly.hopetoadopt.com. “We wanted Web site addresses that were easy, personal, and could be found by search engines, as well as friends and family members.”
The tools on HopeToAdopt.com make it easy for prospective parents to create a unique profile for potential birth parents to read. “Most ‘birth parent’ letters are too lengthy, wordy, and generic,” says Holly. “I have a hard time picturing young birth mothers reading so many pages of text.”
Holly created a five-page profile that begins with an overview page that provides basic information. More detailed information is broken into categories, giving both the viewer and the creator more control.
Holly also wanted to give adoptive families control over viewing their personal site’s stats and to feel a sense of security in correspondence matters. Blake designed the database to track and record all activities and to allow Holly the ability to filter incoming messages.
Advertising on adoption registry sites also irritated Holly. “I hated that families were paying top dollar for advertising only to have additional ads placed on their sites that would redirect and distract the viewer.”
Their clients’ individual pages do not contain advertising. The response has been instant and wonderful, says Holly. “Families felt more empowered and matches began turning into successful placements.”
Holly and Blake figure they must be doing something right, because their format has been adopted by other adoption registries and they’ve received many offers from people wanting to buy their site. “We respectfully declined,” says Holly. Instead, she and Blake are continuing to explore new ways to help adoptive families.
This article may be reproduced for use in other print and Internet publications, provided the reprint includes the following credit line:
“HopeToAdopt.com: A User-Friendly Registry for Prospective Adoptive Families,” by Laura Christianson, Exploring Adoption blog, April 29, 2007, www.laurachristianson.com.
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Laura thank you so much for sharing this. When my little one comes back up from his ear infection I’ll get a reciprical article up on my site and blog.
Thanks again, you’re the best!
Hugs,
Holly