Life story book

[jabbathewhat]

Hi there
I’m just wondering how important the life story book is. We’ve just received it and it is absolutely awful. It’s unusable as it not only has our child’s name spelt wrong, it has our child’s old full name on the front which would be a safeguarding risk when they are older. Plus the fact that it’s not who they are which I think would be terribly confusing! There are several confusing statements which I think would be detrimental to our child understanding their life story.

I am totally happy to make a life story book myself. Our older child’s life story book really needs to be rewritten anyway as it’s not really usable either - but is tonnes better.

My question is - when a child requests their documents whenever they are able, is the life story book one of them…? I’m going to redo it anyway but wonder whether I need to tell social worker that her work was a waste of time!!

My children's were rubbish one even had photos of wrong child in it. Did ask for them to be redone still waiting and they are adults now. However none of them showed any interest in them and preferred me talking about life story. One child did later have some life story work done which that child participated in creating a book with SW and myself and that one was used

We have a lovely life story book and our 3 year old likes to look it every couple of months or so (just the photos so far, they love photos of themselves haha!) I know our LOs life story book was also given to us on a USB incase anything got lost or damaged but, as far as I am aware, it’s not a document that’s been kept on file.

If you want any ideas, I’m happy to let you know what is in our LOs if you think that would be helpful.

My sons was terrible, I made my own on one of those photobook websites, hes seven now (so still small), and he gets it out quite often and shows people. As I made it myself he is now copy three I think, each time it is changed slightly to reflect the fact that he can be given more age appropriate information.

My DS's was awful too - lots of inaccuracies in really basic information and full of random pictures of things like fluffy bunnies, so it looked really babyish but the text was written for a mature adult. A lot of the wording was the same as the later life letter. I did ask them to redo it and at least the inaccuracies have gone now and the language is a bit better. We've still never used it, though. I did a whole new book completely differently, using the Joy Rees method but more photos and less text. DS loves it because it's lots of photos of him and really positively framed in terms of how it's worded.

Thanks for all your comments - it looks as though photobox has a deal on board books for £10 which I’ll do for our youngest and then I’ll make a new one for our oldest. I guess I just wasn’t sure if she requested her documents and she found it I’d be pretty upset - it just shows such a lack of care and attention…

I’ve emailed the social worker to say essentially I know you’re over worker but come on- this was a waste of your time… hope it’s taken in the right way! I do recognise this is so far down on their priorities but I’m just not sure of the point in doing it if it’s just a waste of time! I’d be more glad if she just said - this is what I’ve got so far can you check it.

This has been a common problem for many years. It takes many hours to make a good life story work and social workers just don't have the time.

I would get the Joy Rees book and base your new life story book on her model. You can even copy some of her text, if you are so inclined and if the age roughly fits.

Mixbook offers some beautiful and versatile templates for photobooks (some hardboard). My kids' friends who have seen (but not read) their LSB say they wished they had one. My kids are very proud of theirs.

Joy Rees book looks good. I read this.... thejoyoflifework.com/life-story-books/

This is also how our child's life story book is...

"Instead of starting with the child's birth and early history, my model begins in the present and playfully engages the child before moving gently into the past.
My life story book model aims to reinforce the child's sense of belonging and security within their permanent family before addressing their history and early trauma. The book brings the child back to a secure present and leaves them with a sense of a positive future."

we never even got one. despite asking numerous times it never arrived. Our son was adopted 6 yrs ago!

I'm sad to hear this. I'm a sw and I feel life story book is incredibly important, even if just used as a tool for conversations rather than reading it cover to cover.

We have dedicated life story workers thankful so our books are great!

My sons authority do as well, it sadly didn’t make a difference for him, due to that we aren’t even expecting to get anything for our daughter, we’re already having to have her adoption order corrected as they got her name wrong.

@Simonjt
It really is monumentally crap isnt it!
If they cant even get the childs name right what hope is there?

I am a foster carer and adoptor and have seen some outstanding social workers but oh my goodness I have also.seen the most monumental.incompetence you could imagine!
I used to be shocked but not anymore. I have been doing it too long.

My DS's life story book was done by a dedicated social worker and I think that did us no favours as she was so far removed from the facts. She'd never met DS or anyone mentioned in the book. DS's name was right, but mine was very wrong, wrong hospital, completely implausible weather for the time of year on the day he was born. These are just a few examples. Before you even get onto the language being pitched to an adult with illustrations for a toddler.

To be honest, I am not sure sw are best placed to write life story books.
The Rees model goes from the presence back into the past and project into the future. Social workers don't know many details about the life of the adoptive family, so they will always struggle to give the first and third part depth. However, those parts are crucial for grounding the child, for embedding the difficult content and to make sure their "life story" won't be totally dominated by their awful past. Social workers also often don't have many good photos and I think visuals are important. Something called "life story book" should look appealing and promising while being factually correct and truthful.

@Yolande7 I agree. I started from scratch and produced a photo book based on the Rees model and couldn't be happier with it.