Jean Camis, Baaf Adoption and Fostering, £12.75,ISBN 1 903699 00 2
No life story is more important than our own. The past may be another country, but it moulds the present and can shape our future. This is why life storybook work is so important and why My Life and Me is an essential aid for all of those helping children to understand some of the seemingly random events that have accompanied their lives in care.
This book is very much a working tool, building upon the excellent work done by Ryan and Walker in Life Story Book Work, also published by Baaf Adoption and Fostering. It takes child and worker through a journey of recollection and discovery, to piece together the rich web our lives are.
And so, there are sections on "My birth family", "My thoughts and feelings", "My schools", "A walk in my life" and "The future", each with an opportunity for the child to draw a picture, reflect on feelings or recall memories.
More than anything, perhaps, My Life and Me helps the child to explore emotions recollected in tranquillity, in a structured and measured way.
For anyone involved in family placement work, this is an invaluable source book to unlock the past for children and thereby free the future.
Chris Hanvey is the UK director of operations, Barnardo's
