Every year, 15.000 orphans are adopted in Russia. But around 31% of end up returning to orphanages because they can’t integrate into their new families. One of the most frequent causes is the lack of resemblance to their adoptive parents, which often leads to feelings of exclusion and loneliness. So, looking similar to their parents is more than just a natural wish for orphans, it’s also a positive influence in their adaptation.

At the same time, 9 out of 10 potential adoptive parents would be happy to adopt a child with close resemblance.

Together with “Change One Life” charitable foundation, we launched the project that helps both sides. The national orphans database was enhanced with innovative face recognition technology. As a result, the potential adopters now have more personalized experience of interacting with database and get more relevant results – they can find kids with close resemblance and thus have a strong reason to take the final step to adoption. As for the kids, they now have more chances to integrate with their adoptive parents.

Thanks to the data enhancement, we provided tens of thousands of potential parents with an opportunity to make a personalized search, since they could find children with close resemblance. As a result, more than 100.000 searches for kids were made via the Twin Souls project. And what’s very important, according to “Change One Life” metrics, the number of enquiries for adoption from potential parents increased by 500%.

Overall, the project generated a huge buzz all over Russia and was covered by print, online media and TV. Celebrities spontaneously became our project’s ambassadors. The online video about the project was viewed more than 380.000 times in only 3 days and had more than 40.000 likes and 1.200 shares. In the first 2 weeks, the foundation website had more than 680.000 unique visitors. The number of participants in foundation group in Odnoklassniki social network increased by 50% - up to 101.000 people.

For the first time, the national database of orphans, with more than 80.000 children, was enhanced with face recognition technology. The technology compares the picture of a potential adopter with photos of orphans in the archive and shows the profiles of the kids with close resemblance. The project is extremely relevant for potential adoptive families, as it helps them to take the final decision for adoption, since 90% of them they feel more comfortable to adopt a child they could love as their own.

Also, this data enhancement is helpful for the orphans, as the similarity with adoptive parents helps to avoid several psychological problems like feelings of exclusion and loneliness.

Researches from “Change One Life” charitable foundation show that 9 out of 10 potential adoptive parents would be happy to adopt a child with close resemblance.. This follows from the analysis of data collected on foundation website (requests, questions, the way people interact with orphans’ profiles etc.).

The integration of database with face recognition technology helped us to engage the potential parents and personalize their experience of interacting with huge amount of information.

The database with profiles of orphans is stored on ChangeOneLife’s website. Orphans’ pictures are also loaded on Skybiometry, a third-party service comparing pictures by specific points and areas. When potential parents upload their pictures on the Twin Souls project’s page, we send them to Skybiometry, which then compares them with 80.000 orphans’ photos. After that, we receive the results in the form of links to the profiles of children. As a result, the potential parents see children with close resemblance.