3.2 Case Study: George, aged 6 and Alfie, aged 4

Their parents were unable to offer the care, stability and stimulation children need because of mental health issues. Nobody within the birth family was able to take on their care and the boys suffered significant negect during their early years.

George and Alfie were taken into care and went to live with foster carers for 18 months whilst the court decided where they should live in the future. The court decided that they needed an adoptive family when George was three and Alfie a year old. George and Alfie were then linked with Claire and Andrew who were very excited as they wanted to adopt two siblings. After a period of settling into their new family Claire and Andrew were able to adopt the children. They began to flourish with their adoptive parents and have made good progress, meeting all of their developmental milestones. They are now aged 6 and 4 and well settled in their adoptive family.

George is a very caring child who ensures that his younger brother is always okay. They needed to be placed together, as separating them would have caused them both great distress. George loves animals, and can remember his birth family having cats and a dog. Alfie loves cars and trucks and can remember his birth father having a big, red motorcycle. George and Alfie have a very close bond and have never been separated. Claire and Andrew were the perfect match for them, because they wanted to adopt two siblings, are outgoing like the boys and have plenty of energy!

George attends mainstream school and benefits from the educational environment - he is a popular boy with plenty of friends. Alfie adores his big brother because they relied so heavily on each other during their early years. He has recently started at a pre-school he enjoys and is also making friends, although he is slightly quieter than George.

The boys dwell less and less on what happened to them when small although George still remembers their birth parents, with whom his adoptive parents have annual confidential letterbox contact via the adoption agency.

Before the children joined their adoptive family they began working on Life Story Books with their social worker to help them understand some of the events of the past. Now the children are settled in their adoptive family, Claire and Andrew are enthusiastically continuing this work as the children’s understanding of the past grows. They want to amend the Life Story Book to reflect the time the children have been with them and to reinforce their family life together. They decided to use the Joy Rees approach to Life Story Work. This is a family-friendly way of discussing the children’s “present” life with their adoptive Mum and Dad before thinking about their “past” experiences.

The new Life Story Book opens with lots of good things about the boys and their current family and then moves on to “the past”. Together they help George and Alfie understand what happened with their birth parents and why the social worker and the judge decided they needed to live with their adoptive mum and dad. This includes details about the time that the children lived with their foster carers. Some of the children’s memories are added to their life story book and Claire and Andrew will continue to keep these discussions open.

They are helping the children to understand that what happened in their early life was not the children’s fault. The children are growing in confidence and can now share painful feelings about their pasts with their Mum and Dad. This highlights the need for the Life Story Book to include details of their present situation to support their growing security. The family are now working together to add details of the boys’ current lives alongside their plans and aspirations for the future.