Kids and Lifebooks: Tips for Social Workers

[dgpvgj...@yahoo.com]

Every child who is adopted from foster care deserves a clear, detailed
record of his or her life prior to adoption. While a foster child is
waiting for a forever family, a lifebook can help her to make sense of
the past and prepare to go forward.
Once a child is placed with a permanent family, lifebooks are a
connection to the past that can inform and improve the future. Done
with care, lifebooks are an invaluable tool for helping children
through difficult life transitions and enabling them to take ownership
of their unique histories.
Simply stated, a lifebook is a book that presents a child's life
story. Like other books, lifebooks can contain pictures, artwork,
text, and other meaningful memorabilia that convey information about a
child's personal history. What child doesn't like being the star of
his own story for an audience of his choosing?
It is very simple in principle...until you begin to factor in abuse
and neglect, multiple placements, loss and grief, complicated
legalities, and disruptions. How can you translate abuse, drugs, and
rejection in terms and images appropriate for a five-year-old? You may
have to learn some new skills, but a well-constructed lifebook can
hold a tale of even the most profound loss and pain....

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