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i am telling you, the beth omalley's life book made my life so easy.
my book is about my son, so i did use, "ou and your brother."
I started with place of birth and then went into their history with birth mom and birth father and when they met and how old they were and their education....i put down as much as i knew. I also put a copy of their birth certificate in there.
yes, they were born like everyone else.
my children were both abused, so i had to be real carful on the language. I did have pictures of birth mom and birth dad, so i made copies. Plus i had pictures of some of the foster parents, so i put them in.
the life book reads like a book with pictures and everything. I downloaded drawn houses to represent all the foster homes. I didnt put a picture of a real house (that wasnt theirs) in to the book to describe a foster home.
If you dont have any pictures, you can draw it. dont put a fake house in their or fake baby picture to represent something.
ONce you start, you probably will just keep going. Once i started mine, i was driven. My boss didnt like it too much, but like the above mentioned, i had a time limit on when my childs life book was going to be done.
I used rainbow paper, plus i decorated each page with stickers. I did use the computer using the 'kids font'. On my youngest, i got nemo telling the story....i had alot of stickers of nemo.
i didnt put too many words on each page, i made it like a kids book to keep their attention.
BUt i did put all the abuse down and what happened, the idea is for the child to know everything about their life, but make sure its in child language and explained in a way that the child will know it wasnt their fault why they were removed. Alot of kids may still have questions.
my oldest child remembers things, so to soften on why he was removed, well, that wouldnt be good.
again, i really suggest you get the beth omalley on making a life book. the title was mentioned above. talk about a lifesaver. It took me about 3 months to do, and i was working on it almost everyday. If i didnt have that book, it would of taken me at least a few years.
there is no one way to do it. you just have to be honest, remember a life book is about your childs life and how that child ended up with you. Dont ignore things that might make you uncomfortable, its not for you, its for your child.
I am a true believer in no secrets as long as its not hurting anyone.
I actually decided not to give my older childs life book right now, because he is going through some stuff, but when its time, i will probably do it with him and the therapist.
actually, my adoption social worker said it was one of the nicest life books she has seen....i think so too, if i do say so myself.....lol
the fun part is at the end, let the pictures go wild, because thats the day they met and then moved in with you.
good luck, but i think every adoptive child should have one. IT is after all, about the children
dadfor2
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