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Lifebook Success Stories

A five-year-old in an LSSI foster home had many placements over the course of her very short life. She had very little information about all the places she had lived and almost no pictures of herself as a baby and toddler. The LSSI Lifebook specialist sent letters to all of her previous foster homes. Her very first foster mother, who cared for her from birth to 13 months, responded and provided baby pictures, documentation of all of her "firsts" during her first year of life, plus the outfit she came home from the hospital in! She also wrote a letter for the child's Lifebook, saying she was always hoping someone would contact her to get these things. This foster parent helped this child begin to put the pieces of her life together.
A toddler placed in foster care has a mother who is terminally ill and developmentally delayed. The child will be adopted by his foster parents, but the LSSI Lifebook specialist is working with his birth mother to gather background information and pictures of her and her family for the child. Because we know that the mother is terminally ill and the child will never be able to search for her later in life, the mother agreed to make a videotape of herself reading a book and sending a message to the child. The mother is overjoyed by this opportunity to provide this wonderful gift for her son. This would never have happened without the momentum that came from gathering items for his Lifebook.
A twelve-year-old girl, Lisa, was working on Lifebook pages and had many unanswered questions about her father. She believed that he did not love her anymore because she has not talked to him or seen him since she was a toddler. Through writing in her Lifebook, Lisa expressed that she would like to get in contact with her dad.

Although Lisa's father had not responded to previous attempts to contact him, the LSSI Lifebook specialist sent him a letter asking for information and pictures for his daughter's Lifebook. Two weeks later, he responded and said he was willing to provide information for Lisa's Lifebook and would like to talk to her. After lots of preparation with both of them, Lisa and her father had a phone conversation. Lisa found out that she and her dad share a lot of common interests such as reading and loving animals.

At the end of the conversation, Lisa's father told her he loved her very much and missed her a lot. Lisa then told her dad that she loved him too and missed him. Because of Lifebook work, Lisa and her father reconnected and Lisa was able to hear a message of love from her absent father. Lisa's father told Lisa it was his responsibility to keep in touch with her. These are small steps and there's still a lot of work to do to heal this relationship, but through Lifebook work, a huge hole has been filled for Lisa.