Adoption Photolistings

Photolistings of children in the foster care system who are waiting for families were first started as print publications in 1974, and 20 years later, in 1994, Texas was the first state to take the then-revolutionary step of putting its photolisting online.

A photolisting generally includes:

• a photo of the child
• the child's first name or initials
• date of birth
• optional information can include special needs

Today, books are still available, and online photolistings have grown to include almost every state, Canada (Alberta), and even the United Kingdom. There are also aggregate photolistings that combine the children from two or more states, and some foreign countries.

Adoptable Kids is the largest single-source online photolisting of children available for adoption domestically and internationally, and the federally funded Adopt US Kids project is working to gather access to photolistings from all states.

There has been considerable debate over the wisdom of putting children's photos and information on the Internet, most recently in Alberta, Canada; however, after one year of operation, the Alberta registry operators report a jump in the number of children adopted.

Each state sets policies on how photolistings are managed: whether they use actual photos or photos of models (as is done in the U.K.), how much information about the child is included, and whether access to the photolisting is restricted in some way. Protecting children and their privacy is a primary concern to states as they work to help children find families as expeditiously as possible.

Adoptable Kids and adoption exchanges work with states to present their listings within the framework of state guidelines, presenting only information that is authorized by the state.