Dear Birth Parent(s),

Our names are John and Amy. We cannot begin to imagine what a difficult decision this must be for you. We understand that this decision takes a great deal of selflessness, courage and love. We plan to give a child a home full of love, laughter, stability, compassion and support.

We have thought about being parents for a long time. When we learned we were unable to have a biological child, we decided that adopting was the way to go for us. We both have family members who are adopted and knew that our families would love any child we brought into our families. We have worked very hard and learned a great deal to prepare ourselves for becoming parents and for becoming a family.

Because we both have family members who have been adopted, we have a good understanding of the feelings of an adopted child, the birth parents, and adopted parents. Letters and pictures are very important to anyone who loves a child. We plan to send letters and pictures as often as possible so that all who love the child have a way to keep up with what is going on in his or her life. We know that it is important to share the adoption story often and in a way that is appropriate for the age of the child.

We have talked about how a child would fit into our lives. We have a great deal of support from our families and our mothers and sisters can't wait to help with a new member of the family. We have also investigated child care in our area and have found several child care centers near our home that would provide excellent care for a child while we work. The schools in our neighborhood are excellent and our community offers many activities through community centers, the public libraries and the local college.

We both know that while we are happy together as a couple, a child would make us a family. We both grew up in close-knit, large families and we want to continue the traditions we learned from our relatives. We grew up with our grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins close by and attended school and church with our extended families. A family is the most important group you can belong to and we know that families work best when everyone is working together and supporting one another.

Like anyone else, we want a child to grow up happy, healthy and loved. We are lucky that we have the means to support a child financially and like to do a variety of things. We like sports and attend football and basketball games and like to get together with family and friends to watch our favorite teams. We like music of all kinds and like to go to concerts of our local symphony and our friends' rock bands. We enjoy decorating our home for the different holidays and even have our Christmas lights timed so that they turn on when the school bus pulls up to drop our neighbors' children off from school. We want to share all of the things we love to do with a child and support his or her interests as they develop.

We have a marriage that has been built on a foundation of friendship. We were good friends for a long time before we became a couple and dated for five years before we got married. Our marriage is based on mutual respect, friendship and love. We have great role models in our families because our parents and grandparents all had marriages that lasted at least 40 years. We know that marriage is a long-term commitment and work hard to keep our relationship strong and loving. Any child that becomes a member of our family will have these role models as well.

We have created a life for ourselves that includes different activities, family and friends. We know that a child would only increase our love for life and give us an opportunity to share all that we know and have learned with a new generation. We are so excited to welcome a new family member!

Sincerely,

John & Amy