Lifebook

When I posted about my scrapbooking pages last month, the lovely Georgia asked me if I knew of any websites about preparing an adoption lifebook. I haven't done any web research on Lifebooks, but have the feeling that they are very similar to scrapbooking. My agency has sent us some information on starting a lifebook. I thought I would share it with all of you just in case you are planning on starting one.

LIFEBOOKS were developed to create a permanent record of a child's birth and placement history. The scraps of information held by adoptive parents may be the only clues an adopted child has to his/her roots. Preserving what is available, however limited, is important. Creating a lifebook helps your child learn about his/her heritage and it weaves the child's past into his/her present and future development.

Families that create lifebook often include items such as:

• Documents adoptive parents collected for the adoption
• Notes they took when they received their child referral over the telephone
• Airline boarding passes
• Items they picked up from their trip to China
• News clippings or magazines from the time the child was adopted
• A detailed journal or letter about the trip the adoptive parents took in order to complete the adoption
• Photographs from the trip to China, or a note to the child before or after the adoption was finalized.
• M3's elaborate referral spreadsheets (OK, I added that one)!

Hopefully this little bit of information can get you started. Since I still have a long wait ahead of me, I am starting a scrapbook for my husband Joe to include all the home improvement projects he has worked on.

On another note, in case you are still interested voting has started over at The Written Word. Stop on by and vote for which book you would like to read with our on-line book club!