6.22 Life Story Books |
Contents
1. Policy
Each child with a plan for adoption MUST have Life Story work ,the progress of this will be discussed during the Family Finding Referral meeting and must be near completion, ( up to the point of adoptive placement ) prior to the match being agreed The later life letter should be prepared in consultation with the adoptive family post placement and prior to the adoption order.
The process and final products will be evaluated and quality assured by the social workers line manager, and progress will be monitored by Independent Reviewing Officers at each Looked After Child review / prior to adoption . The Adoption Panel, when considering the match, will check that the life book and a late life letter have been completed and the arrangements made for when these will be given to the prospective adopters. The adoptive family should be given an opportunity to look at the life work and the later life letter before these documents are completed as a final draft and given the opportunity to suggest any amendments with adopters is agreed. No adoption file should be closed until these have been passed to the adoptive family.
Every Looked After child should have a life-story book and staff will be trained appropriately to achieve this.
The life-story book should be developed throughout the period that the child is looked after.
It is the responsibility of the child's social worker to ensure that work on the life-story book is undertaken and the book is maintained. The Child Social Worker has a particular responsibility to take a lead in the planning and coordination of the various tasks involved to gather and create the resources. They will be expected to present evidence of their planning to IRO reviews and Adoption Panels . It may be appropriate for parts of the work to be carried out or contributions to be made by the child's foster carer, staff in children's homes, others involved with the child and the child him or herself. In appropriate cases, the book may also include contributions from the child's family, but the Social Worker must have direct responsibility for the production of the 'Birth Family History book' and 'The Later Life Letter''
The life-story book should be backed up and saved electronically and physical copies should be handed to the child when he or she ceases to be Looked After or becomes adopted.
2. Guidance
The life-story book is an account of the child's life in words, pictures and photographs and is a tool to help a looked after child to understand his or her past. It provides a record to which the child and the adults caring for the child can refer at any time.
It provides an opportunity for the child to know about things to be proud of and the book should be compiled in this vein.
It may be appropriate to give parents, grandparents or other members of the wider family the opportunity to contribute to the book, for example by writing a letter or card to be kept in the book, for example if parents wish to try and explain why they were not able to be part of the child's life.
The life-story book can help to:
- Organise past events in chronological order
- Aid the child's development
- Increase the child's self-esteem
- Recall past events at the child's pace
- Enable the child to share with others his or her past
- Build a sense of trust between the child and the worker who aids in compiling the book
- Enable the child to gain acceptance of all facets of his or her life and understand the past
- Facilitate bonding
The Life story work resources should be collected into five elements
A photograph album
Which collects together photographs of important and special people, animals, toys, places, and events, both from the birth family, and from foster carers, which have significance for the child.
A memory box
That is bought or custom made and decorated, and contains tangible items that are significant, and have memories attached to them (eg birth tags, school work, school programmes, letters etc )
A Birth Family History book
For the child who is permanently separated from their birth family, this is a carefully researched resource which provides the child with information and knowledge about their birth family. It provides explanations about why the child was adopted. It promotes genetic identity, provides a realistic image of the birth family, and provides information that helps later searching for ancestry and genealogy later in life. It might include family trees, birth and marriage certificates of birth parents.
A Record of 'Life In Care'
Collated by the foster carers
A journal, which collects together written and pictorial memories of incidents and events involving the child and their carers whilst in care.
(And for adopted children), a Later Life Letter
Written by the child's social worker for the child to read later in life. They provide a more mature account of the child's past, and state the professional's view of the significant events and decisions that were made. It also provides a resource to adopters in the 'telling' process, which demands more detail and insight as the child grows up.
Suggestions of the types of information to be included in the resources:
- Information about the child's birth including the birth weight and height, a photograph if possible and the birth certificate
- Photographs of the child's parents and any information about them including a family tree
- Information about the child's life in foster care or residential care including photographs of the foster family and foster home or the children's home and staff
- Developmental mile-stones
- Information about injuries, illnesses and admissions to hospital
- Favourite activities
- Favourite birthday and Christmas gifts
- Special trips the child has been on
- A life graph
- School reports and names of teachers and schools
- Exam results and certificates
- School photos
- Information about previous placements and significant people with photographs if possible
- Small mementos connecting the child with his or her more distant past, such as the first tooth lost, a lock of baby hair or the 'bracelet' from the hospital where they were born
End