What is life story work and why is it important?
A brief guide to life story work and its importance.
Life story work is an effective tool to help children separated from their birth families to make sense of and provide them with a link with their past experiences from birth. Some children may be too young to remember or be unable to understand what has happened in their lives. Children in care often experience many changes of social workers and carers and as a result information about their past and heritage may be missing, lost or forgotten.
A life story 'book' is usually prepared with the child by a social worker, foster carer and/or adoptive parent or other carer. The 'book' includes the recording of significant information and events for a child to refer to when they are older or as they grow up, such as a description of their birth family, where they were born, significant people in their lives, and their care history.
Life story work can take the form of a book, a scrapbook, a photo album, an interactive CD, or a collection of personal items such as a hospital bracelet, a first teddy bear, or drawings that date back to the child’s time with their birth, or foster family.
It is important for children to have a record of significant people, places and events in their life. Every child needs to have a sense of identity and of their origins so they can understand the person they are. The life story book belongs to the child but is usually given to the adoptive parents or permanent foster carers, so they can share the information sensitively with the child, as some information may be painful or difficult to understand. Some children may choose to refer to their life story book regularly, others less often or hardly ever.
Have you seen our real-life features about adoption and fostering, written from the viewpoint of children?
Last updated: 09 November 07
