Lesson Two 1 2 3 4 5
Making A Lifebook With A Child
Lifebooks are a simple tool to help children stay connected to their past. They also help to keep track of time spent in your family. The activities, memories and connection a child experiences while in your family are an important part of his life.
Lifebooks can be a simple photo album with pictures of his family, your home and your family. Lifebooks can be boxes that hold special papers, mementos, and objects of special significance. A lifebook might also be a life history of a child to help him understand his past. This kind of lifebook can be especially helpful for children who have been adopted out of the system. It helps him put meaning to some difficult concepts.
The lifebook is a way to hold memories and history for a child. Send the lifebook back home with the child or pass it on to his adoptive home. If a child is coming from another foster home, always ask the social worker if a child has a lifebook. If he doesn't have one, start one for him.
What should you put into a lifebook? Put both material things (such as pictures, photographs, school items) and intangible memories (such as writing down stories, a handwritten letter, writing down memories, nicknames)
Make it fun. It can be as simple as a notebook, but you can also have the child select a photo album or scrapbook, cut out pictures in magazines or decorating blank pages. Many foster parents suggest making copies of the lifebook in case it gets lost, damaged or worn.
Information in a lifebook could include:
- Pictures of him, family members, pets, teachers, friends
- Pictures of holiday and birthdays
- Pictures with his birth parents and extended family
- His better drawings
- Programs from school, church or scouting events
- A handwritten letter to the child
- Names of teachers, schools, favorite friends,
- Developmental milestone
- Picture as a baby or small child
- Timelines, family trees
One lifebook exercise is to write a letter to your child about a funny or enjoyable memory you have of that child. On a separate piece of paper from your learning journal, think of a child currently in your home or a child that you remember. Write a short letter to him beginning, " Dear Johnny, One thing I remember about you is……” If you are writing about a child currently in your home, use it to start a lifebook or to put in his or her current lifebook.
Lifebooks - Creating a Treasure for the Adopted Child ( Beth O'Malley, AdoptionWorks, Winthrop, Massachusetts, 2000.) Beth O’Malley has written a book that helps adoptive parents put together a lifebook to help a child understand his past so he can feel more rooted in his present. It is available through the Alaska Center for Resource Families and the Office of Children’s Services in Alaska. Find out more about this book and the concept of lifebooks at www.adoptionlifebooks.com
In Lesson Three, we will look in depth about making visitations go more smoothly. To review the concepts learned in Lesson Two, take the Review Quiz on the next page.