[queenjane]

I was hoping to hear suggestions on what to put in the scrapbook the SW wants us to make. I had written a rough draft (for myself), but the focus was more on a book to be shown to a potential a-child after being matched. But the SW said she would use it at matching meetings to show to other workers or agencies when they are deciding where kids should be placed.

I want this scrapbook to give them a real feel for who we are, and not just have pics of our apartment yknow? I'm a single mom to a 9 yr old son. We homeschool. I have extended family (mom, brothers, sisters, niece)that live very close (one sister lives in the same complex, the other across the street!) and we are very involved with them. I try to practice "mindful parenting"/gentle discipline. We have lots of books, toys, maps on our walls, games. I try to create a joyful atmosphere in our home, we have lots of discussions, and lots of fun. My son and i are extremely close, and he's a great kid.

I know alot of this will be covered in the homestudy,and that is supposed to create the "picture" of our family for the agencies. But what else can i put in this scrapbook? I plan to make it fairly simple, just pictures and a few sentences describing each pic. Obviously pics of the apartment, my son and myself, i was going to include our last family pic from xmas that includes my siblings and mom (since these are people the child will see on a daily basis), pics of our pets, the apartment complex/playground area. But what about "activity" pictures? I was thinking of one of my son on the computer (since thats a main interest of his), and one of him looking through the microscope at our dining room table. Even though we dont live in a super-integrated area, a local park does attract people from all over who are of other races, would it be a good idea to get a pic of my son playing there with some brown kids in the background, or would that be too "obvious"/trying to hard? We do have AA and biracial kids in our homeschool group too, but i dont have any pics.

I also tend to get too wordy (probably can tell from the length of this post!), and i wonder if there is TOO much info, the different sw's wont want to go through it all.

I know i am overanalyzing this but i need to get this done this week. Can anyone give me examples of the type of wording, and what they included in your book?


Thanks

[queenjane]

oops i hit "send" before i signed my name!

Katherine

[lucyjoy]

I used pictures of extended family events, school environment, neighborhood, even some cartoons I liked.
I wrote who people were. Sounds like you are on the right track.

What age child are you looking to adopt?

[Kerbchek]

Activity pics sound good to me... I included pics of me messing with my camping stuff and me playing my guitar...

[queenjane]

Originally Posted by lucyjoy

What age child are you looking to adopt?

I'm hoping to adopt a boy younger than my son(he'll be ten in Oct). At first i thought "under 12" but after giving it alot of thought, i decided to limit it to younger boys, so my son can be the oldest. I think he'd really like to be someone a younger child can look up to.

I called him just now (he's in another state visiting his father), and he went on and on about his little cousin (she's almost two), how she understands everything he says now, and how much fun she is. He says we need to get a baby!;o) Maybe in a few years i'll have another one, but right now i am looking for a boy probably in the 4-8 yrs range, any race. There is an adorable little boy (nearly six years old)just posted to my state photolisting but i'm sure he'll be placed by the time i finish my homestudy. But its encouraging (for me, not for the kids themselves of course!)to see that my state photolisting has had more boys under 8 for the past month or so, so i know they ARE out there.

Do you know how i edit my post? I need to add a title to my OP since i accidentally deleted it. There's just an exclamation point, which isnt very helpful! I looked for an "edit" tab but couldnt find it.


Katherine

[scandi]

Just did the scrap book for my recently matched 4 year old son. I have the standard house and yard but also included extended family pictures, activities - up at the lake, swing set, pool and of course, the pets. Also my son with his cousins and all of them playing. I think you are on the right track with your book.


I think that while the workers may look at it the point of the book is for the child to learn who their new family is. (at least that is my belief)

[Biffer1997]

We included a family pic of us (me, hubby, step daughter), then pics of our wedding, our house, family, family trips we had taken, a page with activities we do as a family, a page that represented each of us individually, and one of the pets.

[LovingThePink]

Ours started out as just a photo album. I included pics of our home, pets, family (extended also), pool, town, special things we like to do etc. I then added stickers and narratives to each section (I included info on each of us as well as our home and family philosophies), as I wanted it to stick out in the caseworkers minds.

The other thing I did was to make a paper to leave with the caseworker after the interview. On the top I put a pic of our sons in a tree making goofy faces and then I bulleted out why we felt we'd make a good family for a child.

You have to sell yourselves...sounds crass, but there you have it! If you have experience with special needs children LET THEM KNOW! That was a deciding factor in our selection, they knew that we were well versed in dealing with ADHD etc. and it was all in a day for us. Don't hide your light under a bushel, let em know why you'll make a great family for some lucky child!

[Barksum]

I did 3 books, some better than others. (I should mention that we've adopted 3 children, hence the 3 books.) I think it was tough because we were supposed to send the albums and things that we had for the child to the committee that would decide where the child was placed and they would look at that. I've decided that if I were to do it again I'd do a "cover letter" for the adults making the decisions regarding where a child is placed adoptively that would go along with the photo album for the child. After all, the photos would pretty much be the same, but I could include a more "adult" biography to flesh out what info was shared in the photo album.

I usually packaged the photo album in a little backpack, with a story book, blanket, stuffed animal, whatever was appropriate for the age and needs of the child we were inquiring about. This made it easy (relatively) for our cw to haul our stuff around without it getting misplaced or mangled.

[Eighty8Keys]

Reading through this post has been very helpful for me as well! We have another staffing next week, and I was thinking of re-doing part of our scrapbook. We have pictures of us, our families, our home, our pets, our school, our hobbies and interests, our yard and pool. I think I will take a few pictures of the neighborhood. The idea of a cover-letter for the "adults" is great, too!!! Good luck with your book - have fun making it!