Gloucestershire County Council Fostering is leading the way in life story work, helping children in care discover, document and understand their life experiences.
Life story co-ordinator and therapeutic life story work practitioner, Morven Nelson, sits down with SoGlos to explain why it's so transformative, especially for children in foster care.
Why are life stories so important?
We're all made up of thousands of stories. Our stories come from our families, our friends, our experiences. Some stories are discarded because they have no significance and some stories are treasured and passed down through the generations. Some are happy, some are sad, but regardless, we hold on to them.
What we think about is, what happens to children's stories when they grow up in care away from their families?
What effect do gaps in children's memories have on them?
Children who have experienced neglect, loss and trauma may have a fragmented narrative, or missing pieces of their past, leaving them with a sense of disconnection. Children can also fill in the gaps themselves, quite often incorrectly, so it's about working together to make sure that they've got a true understanding of their story.
Without their stories, children can feel confused and insecure – and they can even feel shame. But when a child understands their past, their roots and has a narrative to their life events, they’re better equipped to build emotional resilience, have a positive sense of identity and also have better mental health.
How did Gloucestershire County Council's Every Story Matters initiative come into being?
Back in 2020, we decided to run a pilot of life story work to test the process. The pilot went on through most of the year and in November, the senior leadership team deemed it successful.
We rolled it out across children's services and wanted all the foster carers to come on board as well – and Every Story Matters launched in 2022.
We very much want child-led life story work from the moment children come into care, to the moment they leave, so we have those really timely conversations. We recognise that it's not just the stories of a child's past that are important, it's also about what's happening now for them and what their plans for the future are.
How does Every Story Matters work?
Every Story Matters has a two-strand approach. In one strand, we have social workers who complete a small piece of life story work with the child during their statutory visits.
Statutory visits are a protected piece of time with the child and are meant to be purposeful.
Ideally, we want social workers to do their piece of life story work in a creative way. I recommend using a roll of wallpaper to draw and write on in sessions, because it offers more space which in turn encourages creativity and playfulness. Children often take pride in seeing their work build up over time.
The second strand is the foster carers – and we're asking foster carers to create a life story book depicting that child’s stay with them as fully as possible. The book is in chronological order and we want them to contribute one or two pieces per month.
What goes into a child's life story book?
There are certain things that we want in that book that you wouldn't normally put into a photo album – one of those is a ‘Welcome to Home’ book.
This book serves two main purposes. Firstly, it helps the child transition from one home to another to show them where they're going to live, who they're going to live with, even what their bedroom is going to be like.
Obviously, we work hard to minimise the number of moves a child has whilst in care, but sometimes it is inevitable – for example from a short-term to a long-term home. On these occasions, the 'Welcome to Home' document within the life story book is incredibly valuable. Secondly, the 'Welcome to Home' book helps to create a long-term memory of who they’ve lived with and where.
Next to that, we want foster carers to write about what it's like for the child when they first move in, so there’s a memory.
We want them to share the little moments that a child might have: fun things that the child wants to capture. We have to be mindful that this child might not have anybody in the future to share that with them and if it's not written down, then it's going to be lost.
And we ask foster carers to write a letter when that child moves on, to talk about the things that are in the book, but also their hopes and dreams for the child.
Then should that child move on to a new foster home, the life story book moves with them to the new carer, who can then put in another ‘Welcome to Home’ book and continue in chronological order. Or start a new book if there’s no room.
If every child had a life story book from every foster home they’d lived in, then they would have a huge part of their story documented.
Knowing your story is huge. Children can have barriers in their story, but discussing and recording them helps the child begin to understand their past. Making sense of their past can inform their future decisions. They can take their story, what they've learned and potentially go down a different path.
You spoke earlier about emotional resilience – why is this important for children in care?
I always promote talking about feelings. Everything you do in life is usually about how you feel about something, but children in care can sometimes have mixed messages – they think they’re feeling one thing, but their body is telling them they’re feeling another. We want them to understand their feelings. Emotional resilience can help a child process past experiences and come to terms with their story.
Emotional resilience really impacts a child's mental health, it can be empowering and gives them a sense of control – I’ve had children that, for example, instead of hitting out, would try to verbalise how they’re feeling or ask for help. It can also help them make sense of the past and inform their future decisions, which is really powerful.
How do you support this work as life story co-ordinator and therapeutic life story work practitioner?
As life story coordinator, I embed life story work into children's services.
To support social workers, I attend their team meetings, I talk to them individually, I meet with team managers and I have set up an Every Story Matters SharePoint hub where they can find everything they need to help them do this work with the children.
We provide a hard copy guidance document to social workers and family support workers that they can carry with them, which gives them what they're expected to do and where they're expected to write up case notes.
I also sit in different cohorts, for example in Stroud and Cheltenham – that way I'm more visible and approachable so they can come and ask me questions. We also have a focus group with members from different teams around children's services, with a life story champion.
For foster carers, we also have a guidance document which we put into every new foster carer's welcome box.
I attend their support groups and I also run a workshop to help foster carers with how they create the life story books. I want it to be interactive and fun – and we want the foster carer and the child to work together on this, because that is crucial; it breaks down barriers so you can have those open conversations.
But if a child doesn't want to work with their foster carer to create the life story book, we support foster carers to create it for them, for a time when they're ready.
How did you become a life story practitioner?
I was in finance before I took a career break. I was very interested in the development of the infant brain, so I studied a foundation degree in Early Years. I then worked in an Early Years setting for eight years, prior to joining the fostering team at GCC as a family support worker. Here I trained in therapeutic life story work – which is Richard Rose’s model – and my current role developed from there.
I don't think finance was my natural calling! But life story work is something I feel passionate about. I've seen just how powerful life story work can be and we want this for all children in care.
If you think you could be part of the story for a local child, visit gloucestershire.gov.uk/fostering or call one of the friendly GCC Fostering team on 01242 532654.
