[KelleyF]

I've heard a lot of talk about making life books for your fc to take with them when they leave. I never heard anything about lifebooks in our fp training classes. How do they work? Do you fill them with pictures of your whole family with the foster child or are they just pictures of the fc at a particular stage in their lives?

[spaypets]

The way it was explained to me was that some of these kids lose track of where they lived and when. I'd include photos of the family, the house, pets, things you did together, and also a story -- like what they got for their birthday, what school they went to, who their friends were, what they liked to do, eat, read, watch. Any milestones, like "when you lived here you learned to walk, ride a bike, etc."

And, if there's sad stuff, that should be included too--it's part of their history.

[Kate1129]

I do an honest and complete "bio" of their time here. I include photo's of anyone they knew.

[BethanyB]

Sometimes foster children have grown up having been moved from home to home. And as they are moved they leave important memories and experiences that no one is able to remind them of when they get older. Many times there are no pictures or no names.

Life books contain all of the information of their lives during the times that they spent in foster care. For instance, if a child was placed in a home at birth and was then sent to another foster home several months later, and then a year or so after that they were adopted into yet another home...a life book would capture the moments and pictures of the child's life BEFORE they were adopted. Where as some foster children without that may not have pictures of what they looked like as a baby or they may not have the information of about their first tooth or the first word. Or even the people's names with whom the child lived with.

My SW decided to leave DYFS (too stressful) and when my new SW arrived yesterday she brought the life book my old SW had made for my foster son. He's a fost/adopt placement and TPR is scheduled in May. The life book is AMAZING! Inside are lots of pictures of him in the hospital when he was born. A copy of his birth certificate is in there. There are a few pictures of his bmom (which is EXCELLENT as she has left town and my son now has pictures of her!) There is also a biography of his birthmom. It tells her parents and sisters names and what state they live in. It tells the names and birthdates of all his bio siblings. It tells the things his bmom likes to do, her favorite color, her nickname in hight school. There is a letter from his social worker. There are pictures of him outside my home in my arms the first day I brought him home. All with captions describing every event. I can't tell how beautiful it is to have all of that information. I cried just reading it and knowing how precious this will be for him as he gets older. And we have a lot of info. in case he wants to search. Tears are flowing out of my eyes just thinking about it.

I will also add things to what the SW already put in the life book. Such as descriptions and pictures of his adoption day,as well as short descriptions of my emotions the day I got the call about him, the day I brought him home and the day I get to adopt him (God willing.)

I'm going to read my son's life book to him all the time. And I know he will appreciate all of the information it has to offer him.

[BrandyHagz]

Kelley,

AdoptionForums.com has a forum specifically for Lifebooks and Scrapbooking, if you're interested.

You can find it in the Community Center: http://forums.adoption.com/forumdisplay.php?f=1024