Customer Reviews

LifeBooks : Creating a Treasure for the Adopted Child

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As an adoptive parent and an adoption educator, I have looked at many, many books and other sources on the topic of "creating a lifebook." This book is by far the most enlightened, meaningful and relevant book out there. I have already bought several copies for my friends and for our homstudy agency. Most so called lifebooks focus on scrapbooking concepts. This is the only one I have found that talks about CONTENT. Not only what to write about, but WHY certain information needs to be included. It's really a "How-to on Lifebooks" AND a "Talking About Adoption" book rolled into one. The author has a a gift (and a unique and credible perspective) for synthesizing this critical and delicate topic into a clear and actionable tool for adoptive families. I have been putting off creating a lifebook for my two internationally adopted children for the last three years because the task seemed so daunting. After reading this book I was actually excited about getting started. Best of all I did it -and I urge any adoptive parent to buy this book!

Beth O'Malley's book is an inspiration to any family born through adoption. I never had a clear understanding of what a lifebook is until reading her book. I adopted my daughter from China in 1997 and had yet to write her lifebook. When I received the book, I read it in one sitting and immediately began to write the text for my daughter's lifebook! Finally! The information I sought was described and formatted in easy to follow directions. My daughter's lifebook is almost completed. I highly recommend this book to ALL families that have children born to their family through adoption. The lifebook story has made a significant impact on my daughter and brought up many opportunities for us to discuss birthparents and her feelings about her birthfamily. You won't be disappointed with this purchase!

Beth O'Malley's LifeBooks: Creating a Treasure for the Adopted Child is a pure joy to read. Vital information is presented in a touching and personal manner that makes you feel as if Beth is right there with you, guiding you through the process. You will see that a LifeBook can have an immeasurable, positive impact on a child's identity, self-esteem and perception of family. Particularly for a child who is removed from birth family due to neglect or abuse, a LifeBook can help the child come to peace with their past and provides a solid foundation for them to look towards the future. I believe Beth's book is essential reading for everyone involved in adoption and foster care.

Carolyn E. Smith, Executive Director, Massachusetts Adoption Resource Exchange

Beth O'Malley understands adoption, both from her perspective as an adoptee and from her many years in working with adoptive families. Her experience, understanding and compassion shine through in this helpful, step-by-step guide.

Beth walks with you through the process, and makes even the toughest questions seem easy to handle. Don't delay. You owe it to yourself and your child to get this book and start creating your child's lifebook.

We recently adopted our foster child (whom we've had since birth) and I was at a loss as to what types of things to put in her lifebook. This book was VERY helpful in giving information, tips and ideas of information that needed to be included. We now have our 2nd foster child (that we hope to adopt) and this book has made it much easier to get a jump-start on her lifebook.

I'm a pretty devoted scrapbooker, but I just knew somehow that this "lifebook" thing was meant to be different from one of my regular scrapbooks. Beth O'Malley's book explained how and why it is different and provided excellent guidance on creating this very special gift for the adopted child.

With the guidance of this book, I'm now working away at my daughter's lifebook.

This book can guide you whether your adoption was international or domestic, an infant adoption or an older child, a child who was in foster care . . . Whatever the circumstances, Beth O'Malley has guidance and advice for how to handle it in the lifebook.

If you are an adoptive parent, I urge you to get this book and get to work on this important part of preserving and transmitting your beloved child's story.

My mother is a social worker and she uses this book in her work. My mother brought the book home for me to look at. As an adoptee, I feel this book is a wonderful way for adoptive children to understand their history and to have a connection with their biological parents. I wish this book had been written 22 years ago and then maybe I wouldn't have so many unanswered questions.

As with some other great adoption books on the market, I wish this one had existed when our child was small. She is now 34 years old and a mother, and I still wish to create a lifebook for/with her using O'Malley's wonderful guide. But it's never too late! I will make sure that my friends, who have adopted children, will have a copy of this delightful book.

Gisela Gasper Fitzgerald, author of ADOPTION: An Open, Semi-Open or Closed Practice?

In LifeBooks: Creating A Treasure For The Adopted Child, Beth O'Malley provides the adoptive parent with a unique, invaluable, practical, highly recommended, step-by-step guide for explaining the truth of their child's history in ways that the child can understand, accept, and feel good about. Drawing upon her own seventeen years of experience and expertise as an adoption worker to write clearly and informatively for a non-specialist general reader. The result will help any adoptive parent to assist their child in creating a record of his or her life from birth using words, photos, graphics and artwork in the form of a "LifeBook" that is more effective than a general scrapbook or traditional baby book.

" LifeBooks have been used in public adoptions for quite a while but it is a gift for us that Beth O'Malley- an adoptee and adoption social worker- has taken the challenge of helping ALL families to give their children and them selves a container that will help to hold the past and weave the child's past into his or her present and that of new families. Beth is the best one for this task as her sensitivity, wisdom, and creativity bring depth of perception and clearness of vision to the difficult task of telling hard but true strories to children. This books and its accoutrements are a gift for adoptive and birth families and for professionals( therapists, social workers, adoption agencies, and attorneys) Dr. Joyce Maguire Pavao, CEO Center for Family Connections, Cambridge and New York 2/27/00