Life Story Books Guidance

All children with a plan for adoption must have a Life Story Book. Making a Life Story Book is more than creating a photograph album with identifying sentences giving dates, places and names. It is an account of a child's life in words, pictures and documents, and provides an opportunity for the child to explore and understand their early history and life before their adoption.

A Life Story Book should:

• Keep as full a chronological record as possible of a child's life;
• Integrate the past into the future so that childhood makes sense;
• Provide a basis on which a continuing Life Story can be added to;
• Be something the child can return to when they need to deal with old feelings and clarify and/or accept the past;
• Increase a child's sense of self and self-worth;
• Provide a structure for talking to children about painful issues.

The process should be initiated, driven and coordinated by the child's social worker and carried out in coordination with the other people who know the child, including carer(s), parents and other, relatives.

Time and care should be given to:

• Planning carefully how undertake the work;
• Reading the information about the child carefully and thoroughly;
• Collating the information in chronological order;
• Noting reasons for decisions;
• Noting gaps in the records and attempting to fill them;
• Counselling children, parents, friends, relatives and carers etc. as necessary.

Presentation is very important in terms of validating the importance of the life story and motivating the child to want to read it and show it to others.

• Use a loose leaf folder;
• Always work on clean paper;
• Drawings and photos should be mounted;
• Use neat headings and legible clear font;
• If the child is unable/reluctant to write themselves, let them dictate what they want to say;
• Use good quality copies/photocopies of treasured photos, documents etc. and not the original;
• Get a balance of words and pictures;
• A responsible adult should keep hold of the book until it is finished;
• Keep a copy of it on disc and on the child's electronic record.

• Family tree - back three generations if possible;
• Photos of maternity hospital (and, for younger children, a clock showing the time);
• Weight, length, head circumference at birth;
• Birth certificate, if possible;
• Any items from the hospital (e.g. identity tag);
• Dates of first smile, sounds, words, tooth, steps etc;
• Photos of parents;
• Photos and maps of places where the child lived;
• Photos of relatives;
• Photos of friends;
• A truthful life history - which is age appropriate. More detailed and potentially distressing information about the reasons why a child was adopted should be included in the Later Life Letter which is given to them when they are older and better able to cope and understand such information;
• Parents' stories;
• Pictures of nursery/school capturing memories;
• Details of siblings;
• The child's views and memories;
• Photos of workers and their roles;
• Story of the court process;
• Photos of carers;
• Story of family finding;
• Details of ceremonies (e.g. baptism);
• Anecdotes;
• Favourite foods, likes and dislikes.

Where appropriate, this memorabilia should be stored safely in a suitable box – a “memory box”

Foster families should be encouraged to record the story of the child's stay with them as fully as possible, including:

• Descriptions of what the child was like when they arrived, what they liked and disliked;
• Details of development (e.g. learning to ride a bike);
• Their own special memories of the child;
• Birthdays, Christmases and other family celebrations/outings/holidays etc. - photos, favourite places etc;
• Details and photos of the foster family (including extended family), home, pets etc., who they got on with and who they did not;
• If appropriate, times when they had arguments, sulks etc;
• Special rituals the child liked;
• Souvenirs of school - photos, certificates, reports, photos of and stories from teachers;
• Contact visits;
• Illnesses;
• Photos of birth family with foster family;
• Crafts/pictures completed in the foster home/school/playgroup;
• Anecdotes.

Children need truthful and honest explanations that they can understand - that means using language they know.

It is important that:

• Questions are answered as honestly as possible;
• Adults admit when they do not know the answer and offer to try and find out (rather than making something up);
• Children are helped to accept that not everything can be explained or understood;
• Information is given sensitively and honestly - protection and evasion leads to confusion and fear;
• Adults help children to realise which feelings are healthy and acceptable by discussing their own feelings frankly. If feelings are ignored, children get the message that to express them is wrong - bottling them up can lead to negative behaviour like aggression or withdrawal;
• Adults never pretend abusive/bad relationships did not exist.

Where there is an adoption plan for a Looked After Child, life story work should be part of the preparation of the child for the adoptive placement. The life story book and “memory box” should be co-ordinated by one person, preferably the child's social worker, and given to the child and prospective adopter in stages. The first stage is at the second statutory review of the child's placement with the prospective adopter. The completed Life Story Book should be handed to the adoptive parents, together with Later Life Letters, within 10 working days of the adoption ceremony, i.e. the ceremony to celebrate the making of the adoption order.

Life story work is direct work with the child about their history which may culminate with the production of a life story book and or later life letters.

The feedback from the Voices of Care Council highlighted concerns that children in Coventry's care are not receiving this intervention and as such the child not understand the history of their birth family, the context and reasons for their entry into care and the subsequent decisions made about their care plan.

This sets out clear expectations of each member of the Team Around the Child in respect to tasks required around life story work.

Operational Principles

1. Life story work begins when a child is referred to Childrens Social Care. It is captured by the detailed recording of the child's social history and the decision making;
2. Life story work will be augmented by the undertaking of a Family Group Conference in which the child's extended family and friendship network is detailed and a record is kept of what the family proposed as a plan;
3. Permanence Planning commences at the point a decision is made for a child to become looked after. Plans for permanence for the child are required for the first looked after review following the child's entry into care with identifiable milestones to execute a plan by the point of the second looked after review.
   
   As such the second Looked After Review will be the point at which discussions on the undertaking of life story work will be held and a plan endorsed;
4. Four questions re life story work will be asked by the IRO for every child at their review.
   • Does the child have or access to a family tree with relevant details?
   • Does the child have or access to a child friendly record of pre-care history including significant events along with decision making by Childrens Social Care with particular reference to the reasons for becoming looked after?
   • Does the child have or access to a child friendly placement / care history including decisions in respect to Permanence Plan?
   • Does the child have or access to a collection of photos, memorabilia, keeps sakes and certificates that would provide information in respect to the above?

At each review the IRO will consider these questions and allocate tasks to ensure this is available to each child.