Dear Child 1,

My name is and I am a social

worker. I have written this book to help

you understand a little bit about why you

were adopted and your journey as you

were growing up.

I wrote this book in August 2017 when you

were years old. It will tell you about

your life from when you were a newborn

baby until you were years old. It is

hoped that this book will help you

understand what happened when you

were younger and explain why and how

important decisions were made about

your future.

Because all children are different and no

two stories are ever the same this is ‘s

own special story. It is a true story that

explains what a special girl/boy you are!

Best wishes,

Jenny

All about Child 1

Child 1 was born on ___ so that makes

her ___ years old at the moment. She is a fine looking girl with

a lovely smile, sparkly ___ eyes and

____ hair.

Child 1 is a ____, _____, _____ girl.

She is generally very ____ and ____ and of course her ___

and ____ think she is just lovely.

PICTURE OF CHILD 1

Child 1 likes…

Child 1 likes to play ____ with her ___.

She also likes _____.

Sometimes she likes to ______.

She especially likes

____.

PICTURE OF CHILD 1 DOING

WHAT SHE LIKES

PICTURE OF CHILD 1 DOING

WHAT SHE LIKES

Family

This is Child 1 with her __ and ___. Her ___ name is ___ and her ___ is called ___.

Child 1’s brother/sister is called ___. ___ is

__years older than Child 1 so she is ____ at the

moment. They play well together and their

favourite game is _____.

PICTURE OF CHILD 1 WITH

HER MUM AND DAD

PICTURE OF CHILD 1 WITH HER BROTHER

/SISTER

Child 1 also has lovely grandparents. ___

and ____ on one side who are ___ mum

and dad and ____ and _____ on the other side who are ____

mum and dad.

PICTURE OF GRAND PARENTS

PICTURE OF GRAND PARENTS

Home

Child 1 lives with her _____, ____ and

_____. They live in _____.

Child 1 has her own bedroom/ shares a

bedroom with____. She has _____ wallpaper,

___ duvet and a ______ toy on her bed.

PICTURE OF CHILD 1’S

HOUSE

PICTURE OF CHILD 1”S BEDROOM

PICTURE OF

SPECIAL OBJECT IN BEDROOM

School/Nursery

Child 1 goes to _______ school. She/He is in year

_____.

Child 1’s teacher is called ____ she is a very nice lady. Child 1 is good at _____.

PICTURE OF CHILD 1’S SCHOOL

Child 1’s best friend is called

___ and they like to play ____ at

playtime.

Child 1’s name is actually ___ but she is usually called ___. Her full name is ____. Of course, her full name

was not always ______. At first it was _____.

How can this be?

Well, families come in all shapes and sizes and children join families in all sorts of ways. Some are born in to them. Some live with grandparents or aunts or uncles. Some live with foster carers and

some are adopted in to their families.

Adoption means that children stay with their new mum and dad until they are all grown up.

Many famous people and characters have been

adopted like Steve Jobs, KT Tunstall, Superman and Stuart Little the mouse.

Child 1’s Friend/Sister was also adopted and there

are many other adopted children all over the world. Like all these children, Child 1 was also adopted and

this is how her name became:

Child 1

Your name

Here is your family tree…

She has a tummy mummy called ____ and a birth daddy called ___.

Child 1 has a brother called _____ and a

sister called ____.

___ was born in __,___ which means he is ___ years older than child 1.

___ was born in ___,___ which means she

is ___ years older than child 1.

Birth family

It takes a man and a woman to make a baby and so every child has a birth

mother and a birth father.

Child 1 lived with her birth parents at the beginning of

her life.

Child 1 was born at _____ on the _________ at

______ hospital in ______.

She weighed _____. This is the

same as ____ bags of sugar.

The beginning

Child 1’s birthstone is ______. This is a

______.

Child 1’s birth sign is ___. People with this

birth sign are said to be _____

On that day...

The number one song on the day that child 1 was born was _____.

Birth mother had ____ eyes and ___

hair. She was born in ____ so she was ___ years old when Child

1 was born.

Birth mother grew up in ____, which is famous for _____.

She worked as _____.

Birth mother

Birth mother enjoyed _____.

PICTURE OF BIRTH

MOTHER

_____ had ____ eyes and ___ hair. He was born in ____ so she was ___ years old when Child 1 was

born.

_____ grew up in ____, which is

famous for ____. He worked as _____.

Birth father

_____ enjoyed _____.

PICTURE OF BIRTH

FATHER

_____ and _____ decided to live

together soon after they met. Their first

child was born in ____ and their next in ____

The social workers began to get worried

that ___ and ___ were not able to

look after ___ and __ properly.

Before Child 1 was born…

This is why the Children and Families

Service became involved with child

1’s family before she was even born.

When Child 1 was first born she was

unwell/well so she was kept in/discharged from

hospital.

___ and ___ took child 1 home and tried to look

after her but they weren’t able to give her

everything that she needs.

Living with ___ and ___

Toys Cuddles

Children need…

Nappies Food

To be clean To sleep

Stories Warmth

Building strong walls

Friends Rules Praise Learning

Dental Checks Clean Clothes Cuddles Fun

Kisses Food Hugs Taking to School

Laughs Safe Home

Stories Play Warmth

Love Love Love Love

Bringing up children is like building a brick wall. You need all the right bricks

and you use love as the cement that holds everything together.

You can see from this wall that children need lots of different kind of caring to help them grow properly. They need to be cared

for by grownups who can make sure that children are happy, healthy and safe.

The worried social worker

One day the social worker decided that child 1 was

not getting enough of these things and so it was too dangerous for child 1 to live with ___ and ____

any longer.

Child 1 lived with ___, ___, and ___ until she was __ years old but by this time lots of people were very

worried about her because ___ and __ were not giving

her the attention she needs.

A social worker is someone who tries to help families in difficulties get the help they

need to stay together, or else helps children who cannot stay with their birth families to find new places to stay where

they can be safe and happy.

Foster carers

Child 1 (and brother/sister) went to

stay with foster carer/foster carers

called ____. ___ would make sure that they

were safe.

____ and ____ took very good care of

Child 1. While Child 1 lived with ___ and

___ she really liked playing with ____.

What happened next?

___ and ___ both loved their children but even with help from the social worker they were not

able to look after them properly and do all the things that parents must

do to keep their children safe.

The social workers had lots of long talks about Child 1 (and brother/sister). No one thought that they

should go back to live with __ and ___ so they went to

court to see the judge.

Judges are very clever and very wise. The judge listened to everyone

and agreed that child 1 should not live with ___ and ___. The judge felt that child 1 needed a new family of her own. A family that would know how to look after her and keep her safe for a very long time – until she

was a grown up!

Letterbox contact

Everyone thought that when child 1 went to her

new family she should still see ___ sometimes but she wouldn’t go to the

Children’s centre to see ___ and ___ anymore.

____ and ____ still cared about child 1 and they

wanted to know she/he was happy and well. It was agreed that Child 1’s new mummy and daddy could write to ___ and ___ so that they would know Child 1 was ok. In turn,

___ and ____ could write to Child 1’s mummy and

daddy to share their news.

The (new surname) family

___ and ___ were just the right grown-ups to be Child

1’s mummy and daddy. They knew what to do to help her/him grow into a

healthy strong child.

They knew that children needed love and cuddles, plenty of sleep

and good food, a warm house, clean clothes, lots of fun, games and play times and just the right number of

rules to make sure they are safe and secure.

___ and ___ fell in love with Child 1 as soon as they saw

him/her. They visited her/him lots and got to know all about

her/his likes and dislikes. In _____ when everyone knew each other really well Child 1 joined the ___ family when

she/he was ___ years old. This is how Child 1 became ___ and ___’s daughter/son and how they became her ____ and

_____

PICTURE OF MUM AND DAD

The wise judge

When Child 1 was ____ years old. After she/he

had lived with her mummy and daddy for quite a long time they

all went to court to see the very wise judge in

the ____ court.

The judge had already read all about Child 1 and knew

just how loveable and precious she was and said

that Child 1 deserved loving, caring parents. The judge

could see that ___ and ___ loved her very much so the

judge said that Child 1 should definitely be adopted and remain part of the ____

family forever.

PICTURE OF THE COURT

Adoption Order

Mummy and daddy liked the name ___ so

they told the judge they would like this to

be Child 1’s middle name. The judge liked the name too so she

agreed and signed the adoption order.

To celebrate the Adoption Day they ______________.

PICTURE OF THE

CELEBRATIONS

PICTURE FROM THE COURT

Child 1 officially and legally became

Child 1 Surname

About Child 1 now

Child 1 has been living with mummy and daddy for quite a

long time now and everyday she is growing taller and stronger. She is a very important member of the

____ family. Child 1’s mummy and daddy know her so well, they

understand her, they look after her, they know just what she

needs and they love her dearly.

Child 1’s mummy and daddy know lots of very important things about

her. They know Child 1’s…

Favourite football team is ___ Favourite food is ____ Favourite book is ___ Favourite toy is ____

Favourite colour is_____

When Child 1 is older

Child 1 has lots of plans for the future. When she is grown up Child 1 thinks she/he would

like to be a _____.

I wonder if she will change her mind?

There are some things that I definitely won’t have to wonder

about. I know for sure that whatever Child 1 does in the

future her mummy and daddy will always be there to help her,

to guide her and to love her. They will always be her mummy

and daddy and Child 1 will always be their very precious

daughter.

I know for sure that although this may seem like the end of the book, Child 1’s great life

adventure will go on and on and on and on…