# Question about family book



## coxy (Aug 4, 2005)

Sorry, another question, im full of them!

All throughout our hs we asked about a family book and were told not to worry about it and it would be discussed later on, we had our second opinion interview this week and the 2nd sw mentioned that we should have started the book, but as we are going panel in March it doesnt give us much time.  The bedroom the child will sleep in is painted in lilac with lilac curtains and lilac quilt cover, my cousins daughter uses it when she comes to sleep so its got a few girly bits in it, but im wondering if thats going to look bad on the photos (colour, not the girly bits) obviously i am going to hide away all the girly bits. We dont really have to time to completely re-haul the room only to probably have to change it again when a child is placed with us.

Any suggestions?

Julia x


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## superal (May 27, 2005)

Hi Julia - do a search on family books as I'm sure there has a been a thread started about it before and it has some really good ideas.

Under the picture of the bedroom that is painted lilac you could write that you are waiting to find out the age & sex of the child before you decorate it?

Love
Andrea
xx


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## keemjay (Jan 19, 2004)

not sure what the 'format' of your book is as all agencies seem to require different things..ours was the type written for a child ie 'this is the garden, we like growing flowers' etc etc. 
the bedroom page was one of  2 spare rooms, also lilac (but in some lights blueish!) it wasnt  even the room we were intending to use but couldnt take a pic of the other as it was dh's dj den and we had no intention of taking that apart till we had to! i set up the futon in the lilac room with teddies reading books and having a tea party and wrote the caption 'this is your new bedroom - we cant wait to make it special for you'
when the time came i removed that page and added a new one with a pic of the actual room we had got ready

kj x


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## coxy (Aug 4, 2005)

Hi ladies
thanks for the advice, definately given me something to think about, especially the comment kj said about writing "This is your new bedroom - we cant wait to make it special for you!, brilliant idea.


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## Dame Edna (May 17, 2007)

Hello Coxy, KJ and Supreal  

This is helpful to me at the moment ...

We are nearing the end of our homestudy and due to go in front of panel to be approved as adopters (hopefully in April/May).  Our SW has asked us to start 'thinking about' our family book and said that we might like to start taking a few photos of the house, pets, garden etc etc....

My questions are: (sorry if these have been raised before)

1.  when you put the photo of yourself and your DH in the family book do you write 'Mummy & Daddy' () under the photo or do you put first names??  Also same goes for Gran and Grandad - first names or 'Gran and Grandad'?  

2.  Do you just include yourself, DH and maybe gran and grandad in the book or  include godchildren, neices/nephews and wider family and friends??

3.  I presume the family book gets read by panel?? 

I will clarify with my SW when I see her next but just wondered what you guys had to do when you did yours ....  

Thanks Girls  
Dame Edna


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## everhopeful (Feb 19, 2004)

Hi all

Firstly, we didn't include a photo of baby's bedroom in our latest family book. We just hadn't finished it intime. I think it was only just re-plastered at the time I put the book together.

In ours, we have a photo of us (me and dh), a photo of DD, a photo of "home" (living room), a photo of the garden, a photo of grandparents, and cousin.
We included this in DD's book and it went down a treat so we've duplicated it in the second book, and that is a page with "And this is..... YOU!" and in the center is a piece of mirror card, so that the child can see (a very blurry version) of their own face in it!!
And the last page in ours, is a photo of all 3 of us and "Welcome to our family".

This was passed around the table at panel, and I've been told they were very impressed.
We kept ours very simple because of the young age-range. 
I'm sure this might vary from LA to LA on what's allowed and appropriate, but ours started with "We would like to be your Mummy & Daddy" and then went onto "This is.... your big sister, Nanna and Grandad" etc.

Any others questions, please feel free to pm me!

x


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## Dame Edna (May 17, 2007)

That's a great help Ever, I particularly liked the way you said 'We _would like_ to be your Mummy and Daddy' rather than _we are_ your mummy and daddy .... I think that get's around it nicely.

Love the idea of the mirror card too - very cute. At the moment the 'little room' as we refer to it (where our little cherub will go) does not look child friendly as I use it as storage for my business! Of course it will be completely revamped and child/baby friendly when the time comes but I think for now, like you, I will just photograph the rest of the house and garden.

I think I will enjoy putting our book together 

Glad to 'see' you about and hope you are keeping optimistic after your horrible disappointment. Thank you all for your help and sorry to have taken over this thread Coxy  !
Dame Edna x


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## coxy (Aug 4, 2005)

Thats ok Dame Edna, share and share alike  

Julia x


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## Pooh bears mummy (Jul 11, 2004)

Hi

When we did Pinkys we did not take pick of bedroom, as like others it was not ready. Put in us,big brother, grandparents and pets.

PBMx


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## Lady Lucy (Sep 28, 2005)

This thread has been really helpful as we are just putting the book together before we go to the matching panel later this month.  We were always aware that we needed it but haven't been asked to do it until now so we didn't make a start until we found out who was coming and how old they were.  I definitely like the 'we would like to be.......' phrase and we will definitely use that.
Catherine


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