What is a Lifebook?
Frequently, children in foster care, like Clarissa, do not have immediate, organized access to the tangible memories that most people take for granted. Photographs of family members and foster families, names, addresses and records of personal accomplishments can be lost in the shuffle. The children may lose the explanations of why they have moved and why they are separated from their birth families. Like a scrapbook, a Lifebook contains pictures and memories. But unlike a scrapbook, a Lifebook contains the vital information of a foster child’s life. It fills a void that the turmoil of foster care creates. A child cannot remember everything that has happened in her life without help from other sources. A Lifebook can hold the key to unraveling the lost details. “A Lifebook is a ladder out of the hole that so many kids are in. It’s an ongoing process,” says Dr. Jeanne Howard, co-director of the Center for Adoption Studies at Illinois State University (ISU). “It’s a chronological represe
