What Is An Adoption Lifebook?

An adoption lifebook is the story of your child’s life, beginning before he was adopted.  It offers as much detail about his birth family as possible, and then grows with him as he goes through life.  A lifebook is more than a baby record book, more than a scrapbook, it is his story and his connection to who he is, where he came from, and why he was placed for adoption.

Beth O’Malley, author of Lifebooks: Creating A Treasure For The Adopted Child [Adoption-Works Press, 2000], believes that a lifebook “should be required for each adoption, just like the birth certificate.”  In response to being asked for her explanation of what a lifebook is, Ms. O’Malley declares that a lifebook the “best gift in the world for an adoptee.”