"Guess Who?"

Remember this childhood game? It seems as though God has placed us in a life-sized, adult-situation version of "Guess Who?" For those of you who don't know or recall how the game is played, I will refresh your memory. Players try to pick their opponent's "person" by asking questions one at a time. So, say I draw the "white kid with the red hair and the green hat" from the picture above. My opponent would ask me questions to determine which character I had pulled. So they might ask me "is your character a boy or a girl?" and when I said "a boy", they would knock down all the characters who were not boys (err, those would be girls). Then they might ask me "does your boy have brown hair?" and I would say "no." and they would knock down all the brown-haired boys. Each time they knock down more characters, the closer they get to guessing who my character is. Their questions can get more and more specific, but my answers can only be "yes" or "no".
The adult version of this game is going on at adoption agencies around the country. Our agency has one woman who is in charge of pulling profiles to show to birthmoms. She has a spreadsheet of all the adoptive parents' wants, desires, and preferences. Every time a birthmom meets their required "birthmom requirements" (must be 20weeks+ pregnant, have drug and alcohol screening, determine financial need (if any), list their preferences for an adoptive family, etc) then Denise takes the birthmom's list of preferences and goes to work. If the birthmom only wants a couple who do not have children already, then all the couples who have kids are "knocked down". If the birthmom only wants an adoptive family who has a dog or a pet, then those without pets are "knocked down". And the adoptive families are "knocked down" until all the birthmom's preferences are met. Then, the game switches sides. Denise then goes through the remaining adoptive families who are still standing, and works them. If the baby is a boy, she goes through and "knocks down" all the families who ONLY want girls. If the baby has been exposed to any ellicit drugs, then all the adoptive families who are not open to drug exposure are "knocked down". If the baby is half-caucasian, half black, then all the couples who ONLY want Hispanic or ONLY want white kids are "knocked down". So couples are knocked down after each category and preference is not met...and the remaining adoptive family profiles are the ones the birthmom gets to see. There could be 10 families left standing, or their could be 2 families left standing. It all depends on how picky or relaxed the preferences are, on either side of the "game".
I am not sure it is appropriate to think of this all as a "game", but I have had many questions about "how do you get picked" lately, so I figured I would attempt to illustrate. I am fully aware that the birthmoms, first moms, nice pregnant girls, are not looking at their current situation lightly...like its any kind of game. I dont mean to trivialize the decisions they have to make. I am simply trying to explain the process once the agency gets to work.
So...to all the soon-to-be-mommies who have emailed or commented that they are in the same waiting process, this one's for you.:) I hope your game piece is left standing SOON. :)