Life Books for Children in Foster Care
Life Books are designed to enable a child to understand significant events in their past, confront feelings associated with those events, and become more fully involved in the future planning of their lives. A Life Book can provide a chronology of the child’s life, enhance self-esteem and identity formation, help a child share his or her history with others, identify connections between past, present and future and separate reality from fantasy thinking about their family of origin.
A Life Book is a great place to keep photos, mementos, certificates, drawings, school papers and other items of importance for a child.
Information that can be compiled by foster/adoptive parents might include:
- Developmental milestones
- Childhood illnesses
- How the child shows affection
- The things he or she does when happy or excited
- What frightened him or her
- Favorite friends, activities and toys
- Birthday and religious celebrations
- Trips, vacations and school field trips
- Extended family members who are important to the child– pictures of them and any cards or letters they sent
- Cute things the child does or has said
- Nicknames
- Family pets
- Visits with birth relatives
- Names of teachers, the schools attended, report cards and any awards
- Special activities, such as scouting, clubs, sports teams or camping experiences
- Church and spiritual community and Sunday School experiences
- Pictures of each foster family, their home, the child’s room and their pets.