Life story work

Most looked after children have had profound experiences of loss, separation, abuse or neglect, and changes of home and carers. Life story work is the process of helping children separated from their birth families to remember and make sense of their lives and decisions made.

Life story work can help children to accept and integrate their past, make sense of their present, and develop a clear sense of identity for their future. It is an invaluable tool in helping to understand what has happened and is happening to them.

The process can purposefully assist a child to answer the questions:

  • Who am I?
  • How did I get here and who are my networks of support from the past and present?
  • Where am I going?

Life Story Work can help identify strengths to achieving future goals.

(Michael Rutter, Resilience 1997)

There are three core elements to life story work:

  1. The creation of a story that explains the reasons for the child's moves from their birth family as well as a record of important people, events, memories, achievements, and facts.
  2. The gathering of treasured objects from the past, which includes photographs and mementos of childhood.
  3. On-going, regular, and consistent direct work with children and young people, providing information about their birth family and other significant relationships in their past and present life. This should be done through conversations with the child, including the use of direct work tools and resources where appropriate.

It is important to recognise that direct work is a process and should not be viewed as a product or a one-off event. A Life Story Book should not be focussed on at the expense of the other core elements.

It is essential to be able to assess and recognise what the right approach is for the child or young person at any given point in time. Different children and young people need different information at different times in their lives. Their needs for Life Story Work will evolve and change with their age, development, and sense of self.

The role of schools and settings

It is the responsibility of the child or young person’s social worker to undertake life story work but your school or setting could have a crucial role to play in this.

You should discuss this with the social workers of the children in your school or setting.

Case study

Here is an example of how a school has really embraced life story work.

Saint Aidan's Church of England High School in Poulton le Fylde attended our Autumn 2022 conference and they have really embraced what they learnt. They have invested time to ensure they are creating something meaningful for their pupils. Their first CLA (Year 11) left and was presented with his box.

The Designated Teacher explained about their approach:

"John was really over the moon with his box, I included lots of pictures from over the years, which were a major source of amusement to him.

I also put in all his reports, letters from his Head of Year and Form Tutor. I even included his exclusion notice from when he threw a stone at a teacher in Year 7, which we howled laughing about.

I think to John with all he has been through over the years it meant a lot that someone cared enough to make him one and he could take it and add things to it when he starts college".