Bill & Betty

Place to Vacation
Florida, Texas, Mexico and St. Marten in the winter months
New York City, San Francisco and Mexico (beach locations)

Dear Birth Parent(s), 

We are very excited about the prospect of adopting our second child. The experience of watching our son Mateo grow has been the highlight of our lives and has helped us grow as parents and as individuals. We are pursuing a second adoption to expand our family and extend our love, support and guidance to another child. We want to share all that we have learned as first-time parents with another child and experience the joy of parenting a young child again.

We understand that adoption carries unique responsibilities and that we must be aware of our children’s identity and foster a sense of cultural background. We believe that adopted children should know about their backgrounds from day one and should be guided to understand the impact of adoption on their lives.

We recognize the important responsibility we would take on if you were to generously bestow on us the trust to parents your child. Our goal is to recognize the child’s natural personality but also to expose the child to new opportunities and paths that he or she may not have considered before. We also want to address our regard for you as birth parents.

We can’t imagine how difficult it must be to decide on a home for your child based on this letter, a profile and a photo album. We admire your courage to make this difficult decision. It is our hope that we can offer you a snapshot of our lives, and our parenting style. Your child will be the center of our lives. We have enough love, energy and commitment to parent two children. We will emphasize the love and support that siblings bring. We both have good relationships with our siblings, and we want to share that experience with your child and Mateo. We believe in having our children take priority in our lives. This includes time spent with our children, psychological support and financial support.

Our Home life
Our home has four bedrooms, a kitchen that opens up to a family room, a dining room, living room, and an upstairs open area that is a great spot for small children to play and for older children to spend free time. Most of the house is new and updated. There are many family activities near our home. We can walk to seven parks, and we have two new libraries nearby with children’s sections and story-time activities. We have easy access to indoor and outdoor pools. Our park district offers many children’s classes. Mateo is currently enrolled in gymnastics and music classes. He is participating in an art class this summer and swimming lessons. Since Mateo was two years old, he has taken Spanish-language classes. We feel strongly that if he speaks his native language from a young age, it will instill a sense of identity with his culture.

Family and Friends
We have strong support from our family and friends in our adoption plans. Both of our families are excited to spend time with Mateo, and he is the center of our family gatherings. Bill’s mother visits each year and spends two weeks visiting with Mateo. Betty’s family is local, so they visit about once per week. Betty’s mother is excited about being a grandmother and shops regularly for books, clothes and toys for Mateo. Our second child would enjoy that same type of support. Our friends were very excited about our adoption of Mateo. We spend time with a family in the neighborhood who has adopted two children from China. They are a great example for Mateo and make interracial adoption less of a unique family structure in Mateo’s mind. We also know an interracial couple (Chinese and American), so that is another family of mixed races that Mateo can relate to.

About Us
Bill and I met in 1988, and we got married in 1991 at St. Simon’s church in Arlington Heights, Illinois. We have been fortunate to enjoy satisfying careers that offer competitive compensation. As a result, we own a comfortable home and have traveled to Europe, Mexico and the Caribbean Islands prior to having children. When our children are older, we hope to share some of the joys of traveling. We have taken Mateo on a trip to Florida and on long weekends to nearby cities. We plan to continue to take both children on trips that are appropriate for their age. We travel to visit Bill’s family in Texas about two times per year. Mateo spends time with his grandparents, aunt, uncle and cousin. These visits include day trips to Austin and visits to a family member’s farm where Mateo feeds the cows and enjoys farm life.

We share many interests in common, including keeping up with current events, exercising, gardening, home decorating and traveling. We both were active tennis players until we adopted Mateo. As our children get older, we will introduce them to playing tennis, as well as other sports. These commonalities have allowed us to have a compatible relationship over the last 18 years.

We have a variety of friends who have children Mateo’s age through early grade school, so visits from friends offer active social time for all the children. We also have two families on our block with children Mateo’s age.

We both have four-year degrees. Bill earned a certificate in computer programming and made a career change into that industry. We are strong believers in providing educational opportunities. In addition to early Spanish-language training, we want to offer our children extra-curricular activities based on their interests. We moved to our town because of the good education system. It is our goal to send both children to college and to support them in whatever interests they develop.

We hope that you will consider our family as a home for your child. We would be honored to care for your child and love it with all our hearts.

With special regard,

Bill & Betty