Family Futures has developed a life story work model for working with children, and their adoptive parents and carers, that works to address developmental trauma and attachment insecurity, side-by-side. Inevitably, looking at the past can trigger strong feelings in children and they may find it traumatising.

Over the past 28 years, Family Futures has developed life story work as a therapeutic tool to help children resolve early trauma and form secure attachments with their adoptive parents and foster carers. In our experience with families, life story work supports children in making contact with their birth families.

It helps to prevent some of the more extreme acting out in adolescence such as secret contact with birth parents on social media.

Life story work has evolved over the last 40 years. It originally began as a way of helping children in the care system to develop a sense of identity and continuity. Life story work takes many formats from books, to later life letters and memory boxes. It helps to establish open and honest conversations, between young people, their adoptive parents and social workers. This work should be routine for all children during their childhood.

Family Futures has integrated child celebration days into our life story work model, providing a source of information for the child and their family, and promoting the message that the child’s life should be celebrated.

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