Trim: 152 x 229mm Spine Width: 7.69mm L Katie Wrench and Lesley Naylor i f e S t o Life story work is one of the key therapeutic approaches to working ry Life Story Work with W with adopted or fostered children. While it sounds simple, there is o much more to this work than producing photo albums or memory r k Children Who boxes for children. w i t h This accessible book is full of tried and tested activities and creative C h ideas for professionals, parents and carers who may have little time i l d are Fostered and few resources, but who need to carry out life story work that r e works for children. The authors describe the optimum conditions in n W which to carry out life story work and feature activities to h accompany each of the necessary stages: creating a sense of o safety, emotional literacy, building resilience, exploring identity, a or Adopted r e sharing information and looking to the future. F o s t This book will be a vital tool for social workers, foster carers, e r adopters, students and any frontline practitioners involved in e d working with traumatised children. o Creative Ideas and Activities r A Katie Wrenchis a qualified therapeutic social worker, art d o psychotherapist and foster carer.Lesley Nayloris also an p t e experienced therapeutic social worker and play therapist who d facilitates a life story consultation clinic. Both authors work with K children and young people who are fostered or adopted, provide a t specialist consultation and training to frontline social care ie W practitioners and foster carers around life story work and are based r e n in Leeds, UK. c h a n d L e s le y N a Jessica Kingsley Publishers y 116 Pentonville Road lo London N1 9JB, UK r 400 Market Street, Suite 400 Philadelphia, PA 19106, USA www.jkp.com Cover design by Blue Box Design JKP Life Story Work with Children Who are Fostered or Adopted of related interest Life Story Books for Adopted Children A Family Friendly Approach Joy Rees Foreword by Alan Burnell Illustrated by Jamie Goldberg ISBN 978 1 84310 953 2 eISBN 978 0 85700 190 0 Life Story Therapy with Traumatized Children A Model for Practice Richard Rose Foreword by Bruce D. Perry, M.D. ISBN 978 1 84905 272 6 eISBN 978 0 85700 574 8 Connecting with Kids through Stories Using Narratives to Facilitate Attachment in Adopted Children 2nd edition Denise B. Lacher, Todd Nichols, Melissa Nichols and Joanne C. May ISBN 978 1 84905 869 8 eISBN 978 0 85700 454 3 Creating Loving Attachments Parenting with PACE to Nurture Confidence and Security in the Troubled Child Kim S. Golding and Daniel A. Hughes ISBN 978 1 84905 227 6 eISBN 978 0 85700 470 3 Attaching in Adoption Practical Tools for Today’s Parents Deborah D. Gray ISBN 978 1 84905 890 2 eISBN 978 0 85700 606 6 Empathic Care for Children with Disorganized Attachments A Model for Mentalizing, Attachment and Trauma-Informed Care Chris Taylor Foreword by Peter Fonagy ISBN 978 1 84905 182 8 eISBN 978 0 85700 398 0 Toddler Adoption The Weaver’s Craft Mary Hopkins-Best ISBN 978 1 84905 894 0 eISBN 978 0 85700 613 4 Direct Work with Vulnerable Children Playful Activities and Strategies for Communication Audrey Tait and Helen Wosu Foreword by Brigid Daniel ISBN 978 1 84905 319 8 eISBN 978 0 85700 661 5 Life Story Work with Children Who are Fostered or Adopted Creative Ideas and Activities Katie Wrench and Lesley Naylor Jessica Kingsley Publishers London and Philadelphia First published in 2013 by Jessica Kingsley Publishers 116 Pentonville Road London N1 9JB, UK and 400 Market Street, Suite 400 Philadelphia, PA 19106, USA www.jkp.com Copyright © Katie Wrench and Lesley Naylor 2013 Front cover image source: iStock. The cover image is for illustrative purposes only, and any person featured is a model. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form (including photocopying or storing it in any medium by electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally to some other use of this publication) without the written permission of the copyright owner except in accordance with the provisions of the Copy- right, Designs and Patents Act 1988 or under the terms of a licence issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Applications for the copyright owner’s written permission to reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed to the publisher. Warning: The doing of an unauthorised act in relation to a copyright work may result in both a civil claim for damages and criminal prosecution. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Wrench, Katie, 1972- Life story work with children who are fostered or adopted : creative ideas and activities / Katie Wrench and Lesley Naylor. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-84905-343-3 (alk. paper) 1. Adopted children--Services for. 2. Foster children--Services for. 3. Social work with children. 4. Narrative therapy. 5. Psychic trauma in children--Treatment. I. Naylor, Lesley, 1964- II. Title. HV873.W74 2013 362.73--dc23 2012041883 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 978 1 84905 343 3 eISBN 978 0 85700 674 5 Contents ACKNoWLedgemeNtS 7 Introduction 9 1. Building the Foundations for Life Story Work 17 the child 17 the care construct 18 the worker 19 2. Building a Sense of Safety for the Child 24 Creating a Working Agreement 27 Safe Place 29 the Hand of Safety 30 Initials 32 Body outline – Strengths and Resilience – Version 1 33 Body outline – early Warning Signs – Version 2 34 Relaxation exercises 35 3. emotional Literacy 39 mood Board or Collage 42 Feelings Charades 43 Shields 45 Body drawing 46 the Worry tree 47 the Bag of Feelings 48 4. Resilience and Self-esteem 50 magazine Self-Portrait 53 How I make myself Feel Better 54 Finding the Hero in the Child 55 What Can I Feel Proud of? 56 Like me/Not Like me? 58 Star on the door 59 5. Identity 60 Hand or Footprints 63 Life graph/Life map 64 draw Your Family 65 Sculpting 66 design an Island 69 Child-Friendly genograms/Family trees 70 6. Information Sharing and Integration 72 Life graph/Life map – Part 2 76 the Parenting game 79 moving Calendar 82 metaphorical Stories 84 Building Strong Walls 89 Secret Seal 92 7. Looking to the Future 93 Welcome mat 96 make a Wish 97 moving on 98 Healing Collage 99 the Future Self drawing 101 Candles 103 ReFeReNCeS 106 INdex 109 Acknowledgements The development of this practice guide has been influenced by many people and places. We have the pleasure of working as part of a strong, creative team of social workers and therapists at the Therapeutic Social Work Team in Leeds. We are appreciative of the support we have been given by our team and managers and of the knowledge and experience we have gained by working alongside them. As well as working together, we also know how to laugh, spa and clothes swap together, which we find always helps! We must also express our pride in and thanks to all the children and young people with whom we have shared a special life story journey. It has been our privilege to walk that road with you and there is nothing in this book that we haven’t first learned from one of you. Taking the huge step from doing life story work with children to writing the book about it comes down to one person, Stephen Giles, who had the idea of creating a brief practice guide and didn’t stop going on about it until the proposal was accepted. Thanks then must also go to Jessica Kingsley Publishers and to our commissioning editor, Stephen Jones, for being persuaded it was indeed a great idea. For both of us, our families and friends have a provided tremendous encouragement and belief along the way. From Lesley, thanks must go to John for his support and for forgoing weekend walks on those rare sunny days. From Katie, thanks again must go to Stephen for taking our children, Louis and Honor, on a variety of extended day trips to allow me to sit and write in peace. Thanks too to David and Jean for believing I 7 8 Life Story Work With ChiLdren Who are foStered or adopted could do a good job and an apology to Thea for not being the next Jacqueline Wilson. We couldn’t have come this far without the expert proofreading of Alison Ferguson, always proficient with a ‘red pen’ and thoroughly encouraging. Book club members come under the ‘thanks to the too many to mention’! So many thanks to everyone – to the ‘too many to mention’ who have inspired and championed us along the way.