Making A Lifebook

A Lifebook is a story of a child's life from the time he/she entered foster care until permanency is achieved. Permanency can either be return to parent, return to other caretaker or adoption. Lifebooks have been around for years and it is an important tool for the caseworkers, social workers and parents to use with the children.

Ms. McGuire-Vosburgh has developed a pre-made book called "Me and My Two Families" which is being used by the caseworkers at Ulster County Department of Social Services and foster parents working with Westchester County Department of Social Services for children that are freed for adoption or returning home to their birth parent or other caregiver.

The Lifebook covers:

• Birth of child
• Birth parents and siblings
• Why child entered foster care
• What problems either their parents or themselves had to work on in order to go home
• What services the department provided
• Foster home information
• Connections in their community
• Medical Information
• Demographic Information
• School Information
• Trips, birthdays etc. celebrated in the foster home
• Letters, poems, drawings that birth parents may want to put in the book
• Pictures of birth parents, siblings, friends, foster parents, etc.
• If child returns home - information about circumstances that led to return
• If child is freed for adoption- information about why child could not go home
• If child is freed - discuss search for adoptive home and placement in adoptive home, ending with the finalization of the adoption

Adopting Children From Other States

If you are a DHR-approved adoptive family residing in Alabama, DHR does require 6 months to determine whether or not you may be a good resource for waiting Alabama child/children prior to releasing your home study to an out of state agency. This is because adopting through DHR is essentially of no cost to you and they have invested a lot in your family in hopes that you may be the forever family that an Alabama child has been waiting for.

If you do locate a child in the custody of another state’s child welfare agency, you should ask that state to send a written request to the state office of adoption, for a courtesy copy of the approved home study. The office of adoption will also need written permission from the potential adoptive family to release the study. There is a $300 fee for each request to send a study to an out of state private agency. There is no fee for studies sent to other state child welfare agencies.

Credit: State of Alabama Adoption Info Packet FAQ

What Adoption Means to Me - from a 6 year old

Across the state of Alabama, APAC offers several special events free of charge throughout the year to adoptive families and their children. At a recent event one of our APAC staff, Lisa Williams, asked the children to draw/write what adoption meant to them. This is one of the many that were given to Lisa.

What are Legal Risk Placements?

A legal risk placement is when a child is placed with a prospective adoptive family and the child is not yet legally free for adoption. A child becomes legally free once a parent's parental rights are terminated or the parents have relinquished their parental rights. In the case of a legal risk placement either the termination hasn't occurred yet or it has and is being contested in court by the birth family. You can talk with your county DHR’s social worker for more specific information about legal risk placements.

Can Single Parents Adopt?

Myth: "Married couples are what children need."

A single parent family is the placement of choice for some children. Effective parenting is not dependent on one’s marital status (nor on religious affiliation or where the family lives).

Suggested Books on Adoption / Foster Care / Parenting

**Resources on this list that are highlighted in yellow are currently available in the APAC Library and can be checked out free of charge and mailed to you immediately upon request. Please use the "contact us" link on the right.**

• Trust Building With Children Who Hurt  by Ruth Arent
• A Child’s Journey Through Placement by Vera Fahlberg
• Helping Children Cope With Separation and Loss by Claudetta Jewett-Jarratt
• Adopting the Older Child by Claudia Jewett
• Telling the Truth to Your Adopted or Foster Child:  Making Sense of the Past by Betsy Keefer & Jayne  Schooler
  
• Adopting the Hurt Child: Hope for Families with Special-Needs Kids by Gregory Keck, Ph.D. & Regina Kupecky, LSW 
• Walk A Mile in My Shoes:  A Book about Biological Parents for Foster Parents and Social Workers by Judith Lee & Danielle Nisivoccia
• Making Sense of Adoption: A Parent’s Guide by Lois Melina
• Transracial Adoption: Children and Parents Speak by Constance Pohl & Kathy Harris, MSW
• Parenting with Love and Logic by Foster Cline, MD
• When Do I Go Home? Intervention Strategies for Foster Parents and Helping Professionals by Sally Hoyle
• Fostering or Adopting the Troubled Child:  A Guide for Parents and Professionals by Janet Clayton Glatz
• Can This Child Be Saved? Solutions for Adoptive and Foster Families by Foster Cline, MD & Cathy Helding

APAC Resource Library

Are you interested in learning more about adoption? APAC has a FREE library that resources can be checked out from in person or by phone/email. You are welcome to come into any of our 3 library locations – Birmingham, Montgomery, Mobile – and browse for yourself.

Or, if you prefer, you can use the “contact us” link on the right sidebar to let an APAC staffer know you are interested in receiving library resources (books, DVD’s, audio cassettes, games) by mail and they will contact you and mail the resources to you. You will receive your resources in a media bag with return postage paid.

All of our APAC services are free of charge to adoptive and pre-adoptive families. Foster Families can also access our resources at no cost. Do you need CEUs to renew your foster care license? We will send you a certificate by mail showing the resources you checked out once you return the resources to our office.