A Life Book is a tool and process to help children understand their life experiences so that they can function better, feel better about themselves in the present, and be better prepared for the future. The Life Book is a combination of a story, a diary, and a scrapbook. The Life Book is an important part of a child’s connection to his or her birth family. It is an important collection of the child’s history and aids the child in his or her identity.

A Life Book is also a good resource to introduce a child to you and your family.

A Life Book can…

• Help the child form alliances with those that have helped him in the past and present
• Help the child understand his past
• Help him feel good about himself and recollect memories.
• Provide a way for the child to share himself with others.
• Increase a child’s self-esteem
  

Life Book of the Child

The information to be included in the Life Book could be:

• Birth Information
  • Birth certificate
  • Weight, height, special medical information
  • Picture of the hospital
    
    
• Birth Family Information
  • Pictures of the birth family
  • Names, birth dates of parents, siblings
  • Occupations and Educational backgrounds of the family members
    
    
• Placement Information
  • Pictures of foster families
  • Location information of foster homes
  • Names of other children in the foster homes
    
    
• Medical Information
• School Information
• Religious Information
• Any pictures of the child at different ages and places
• Stories from parents, foster parents, and social workers
• Accomplishments, awards, special skills, likes and dislikes.

Life Book For the Child

• Pictures of your home
• Different rooms of the house - Especially the room of the child
• Yard/Local Playground
• Pictures of each family member - This includes pets
• Any other information about you, your family, your life style that you feel the child may want to know about his future home.

Tips for Life Books

• Don’t expect to remember when you took the picture.
• Comment each picture with a description and date soon after printed.
• Build the Life Book to be sturdy, to be able to handle lots of movement and use.
• Realize that just as you can not recall the exact date that you did something, you will forget the dates of milestones in the lives of the children you care for.
• Diary pages can be inserted into the photo album so that there is a written story to go with the pictures.

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Related Information:

Adoption Lifebooks (External Link)