Adoption Lifebook: A Bridge to Your Child's Beginnings

by Cindy Probst

Book Overview

'Adoption Lifebook: A Bridge to Your Child's Beginnings' is a new, easy-to-read workbook for international adoptive parents and waiting parents who wish to document their children's early lives for... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0971749604
• ISBN13: 9780971749603
• Release Date: May 2007
• Publisher: Boston Adoption Press
• Length: 88 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.

Customer Reviews

A must for every international adoptive family!

This resource will change the very lives and future of every parent and, more importantly, every child of every parent who uses it. It's foundation is the highlighting of strengths, acknowledging the resiliency of children and the growth that is possible for everyone involved in the endeavor of writing a lifebook for/with a child. It is positive in its approach, sensitive and obviously based on years of professional and personal experience. A must for every family who child has joined them through adoption internationally.

Someone has finally done it!

As an adoption professional I see many parents who love their children but struggle with their child's life story. Many children have joined their adoptive families through difficult or challenging circumstances and this can be hard to balance with a parent's joy of welcoming their new family member. Some parents feel that creating a lifebook for their child will focus more on the unpleasant details. I also see children who have in their minds created their own "lifebook" with details that may not be true or accurate such as "my birth mother did not keep me because I was an ugly baby". My suggestion is always that their child has already lived this part of their life and would it not be helpful to have these memories written down in a way that the child can better understand them. It is a remarkable process to watch as a child reads their lifebook for the first time and realizes how decisions were made for them or what the circumstances of their adoption were. Each of their smiles and sighs are etched in my memory forever. They finally have a memory and a story that is their own! It is welcoming to finally see a message I have always given to adoptive families and feel so strongly about in print. Ms. Probst's book validates and gives permission to many of the feelings that adoptive parents encounter when they begin the journey of writing their child's lifebook. Her belief of taking this journey to head and to heart and not push to just have a book is an invaluable message. By following the steps of this book, a parent is writing for their child the most loving and caring heirloom a child could ever have, a story of their beginnings before they became part of yours.

An invaluable workbook

This workbook is very helpful and different from other lifebooks in that it makes the participant(s)do the important work of articulating the adoption experience. It is not a fill-in-the-blank book. It makes the parent and the child, ponder some of the tough issues associated with adoption and to write in a way that is truthful and meaningful to the child and just as importantly, in a sensitive and affirming manner. This can only be done when the participants truly grapple with the experience of adoption. Ms. Probst is conscious of the need to have this book be a special, private and honest document for the child and written from the child's perspective. I found her compassionate, straightforward style and her specific suggestions for parents to be invaluable.

The Book We've Been Waiting For!

"Our children exist before we meet, no matter how young they are when we become family."This is how Ms. Probst starts her invaluable book, and then she proceeds to guide us through the process of making a book for our children that tells the story of their lives before they got to us. She leads us with extraordinary compassion through the emotional roadblocks that may stand in the way for us to do such a project, as well as answering many of the questions we may have of how to put certain painful facts into developmentally appropiate language. She helps us tell the truth that out children deserve to hear. And the book is well organized, user-friendly, and extremely well written. I would recommend this book to any adoptive parent, as well as any social service person who has anything to do with the adoption process.

A Workbook That Really Works!

The subject of international adoption is a fascinating one - for both adoptive parents and those of us who are not. This book gave me an idea of what adoptive parents and their children go through in the process of being a complete family. Giving your children memories is what parenting is all about - and for adopted children, especially ones from other cultures, understanding who you are is no easy task. I especially liked the easy writing style and the practical nature of the book. For those writing a lifebook, it makes the dauting task so much easier; for those of us who don't have that specific challenge, it makes it possible for us to better understand the issues surrounding being in an international adoptive family.