[rdority]

Hello Everyone!
It's been awhile since I've visited this website. My daughter Lia is now 3 1/2. I'm in the process of creating a scrapbook to help explain her adoption story. I'm very interested in hearing how others have done this ie. what age you started, how much did you explain, what books were helpful, etc. Lia looks so much like me that I haven't felt a need to talk to her yet. But now I think it's time.
Any advice would be helpful!

[dac_cincy]

Well, I had no choice but to start from day one since Bug came home at 21.5 months (almost 2). We have always had photos out fo his foster family, we have 2 photos of his birth mother- both are in the life book. I have recently started talking about his mother (birth mother), momi (foster mother) and me (momma). He does not understand his birth mother relationship yet- likely becuase we have no friends who are pregnant, so carrying a child is not physical to him.
But I work on it.

I am currnetly explaining hsi story in terms of the life he had before we became a forever family- how he was loved and cared for by his foster family until the papers were all signed and we coudl be a family. I have pictures of the stacks of paperwork, pictures of our flight back, pictures of him with his foster family and the DNA picture with his birth mother.
We talk about how God made us a family.

Right now nothing in depth as to why an adoption plan was made. But all the words are in the life book so that one day as he gets older he has all the words of the process and when I am gone, he wills till have all the entire story.

My social worker told me that by the age of 10, every child should know all the details of their adoption story- right now I am strugglign with that since issues have come to light since we came home. But, the words on the page for him to see and we will talk about it all- the good, the bad, the ugly as the material can be presented in an age appropriate way.

Love to you,

[Melissa M]

DD is 21 months and she has been home since 7 months old. We have photos of dd's birthmom and foster family which we show to her and explain who they are. We have a video of us with her at one month old on our first visit which we have showed her and more recently has been asking to see it. I tell her about the first time we visited her in Guatemala.

I recently purchased some age appropriate books about Guatemala and adoption.

I've started on her life book but I have a ways to go.

Even though she may not comprehend or understand it right now, my goal is that she will just always know where she was born, who she was born to and who took care of her during the first 7 months of her life and their significance to her and to us as a family.