[momagain5]

hi,we just adopted our fosterson,he does have a lifebook that came with him,and we have added to it.my question is should the lifebook just be about his life up until he was adopted?should we start him a new scrapbook to record his new life with our family?

[DianeScraps]

It will vary by family, but I believe the popular answer is that it ends at the adoption.

The books for my girls have continued a bit, as we have a open adoption, but some of what they have for the after adoption part, they would also like to be private.

[Boulderbabe]

I think a "lifebook" is about the child's life---and that doesn't end with adoption.

In my son's case, I've really made a big effort to integrate his birth family and his adoption story into his regular scrapbooks. I don't want his birth family to be something secret and hidden away, so they're in our family scrapbooks just like everybody else in our family. (We have a semi-open adoption---open on his bmom's side, closed on bdad's).

My son loves to look at these pictures and asks for his scrapbooks all the time. It means so much to him.

[hkolln]

Do lifebooks come after the adoption or when the child is moved to the permanent home? We were told by prevous FM that it won't be sent til our adoption is final. Is that true?

[DianeScraps]

Originally Posted by hkolln

Do lifebooks come after the adoption or when the child is moved to the permanent home? We were told by prevous FM that it won't be sent til our adoption is final. Is that true?

That sounds really odd to me. When we got our girls the social worker and FM hadn't done a thing about it, but we did get anything that they had as far as pictures and stuff.

[KenandShelly]

The lifebook should always follow the child. I would ask the caseworker to ask the FM to send the book now. If the FM doesn't want to give it up I would ask her to at the very least make a copy of it so you have something in case the original never makes it to you.

I make very simple scrapbooks for my foster kids. I've started making two pages at a time so that I have an identical (or very similar) book to keep. Truly, I make the second book for myself but if the original ever gets lost, I have copies of everything (assuming someone would call and ask for it!).

We have not adopted yet, but we have been matched! We're waiting on the final approval for us to plan our visit to Washington, yay. But I plan to continue making 2 books at a time so our son will have his own copy. And hopefully he will sit and make some of his own pages (he's 12, we'll see how into he is).