Let’s go for a walk together through Alice’s very own...
Transcript of Let’s go for a walk together through Alice’s very own...
Let’s go for a walk together through
Alice’s very own book Just follow those feet
All About Alice
Alice’s Home and Family
The Beginning
Living with Sarah and Dan
Alice’s mummy, daddy and big sister
More about Alice
Alice’s Name
2015
Meeting the Judge
This is Alice and as you can see she is a beautiful baby girl, with brown hair, BIG blue eyes with lovely long eyelashes,
and a very pretty smile.
Alice was born in 2014, so that makes her just over 1 year at the moment. Alice is fit and healthy and she is just the right size for a 1 year old.
A smiley Alice
Alice is usually very calm and contented, she giggles and smiles a lot but her mummy says that she also has ‘a good set of lungs on her’ which means that she can also make quite a lot
of noise when she wants something! And then she can look quite grumpy!
Alice showing her good set of lungs!!
A very sleepy Alice
Of course her mummy anddaddy think that whatever she is doing, she is still just lovely!
A very much-‐loved Alice
Her daddy says that although she has only been walking for a few months she is very fast on her feet and sometimes she chases the cat, Ginger, and tries to catch his tail, so he has learnt to move very quickly and to keep out of her way.
Alice’s favourite toy is her teddy bear, called Bertie and she likes to take him everywhere…
and Bertie sleeps on her pillow every night
Alice also enjoys banging stacking rings together and putting them on her hands and arms and dancing to music.
Alice is quite a busy baby. She goes with her mummy to baby massage class every week and she gets very excited to see the other babies there.
She also likes her baby music class and trips to the library for story time with her big sister, Ruth.
Alice also likes going with mummy or daddy to collect her sister, Ruth from school. She is very pleased when they all go to feed the ducks on the way home.
Alice lives in a town in Surrey with her mummy, daddy and sister Ruth.
This is Alice’s with her family.
Alice’s mummy is called Sue and her daddy is Jack.
And here is Alice with her sister Ruth.
And of course we mustn’t forget the other important member of the family –
Ginger the cat.
Alice’s daddy
Alice’s daddy goes in his car to work. He works in an office, but he is usually home in time to play with Alice and Ruth before it is time for bed.
Alice’s mum is a nurse and at the moment she is at home looking after baby Alice everyday, but she usually works at a hospital looking after people who are not feeling well.
Alice’s family is a happy one and they have lots of fun together. Her mummy, daddy and sister Ruth like taking Alice out for walks in the park…
and to visit other friends and family -‐ especially Grandma and Grandad -‐ they are mummy’s mum and dad and they live just a few miles away, in the next town.
Here is Alice and Ruth with her grandma and grandad
Alice, mummy, daddy and Ruth all live in a very nice house, full of love. It has a big garden at the back, which is just the right size for Alice and Ruth to play in and enjoy the sunshine! There is a slide and a sand pit and Ruth likes to water the pretty flowers and play on the swing.
And here is baby Alice asleep in her cot. At the moment she sleeps in in the same bedroom as her mummy and daddy to help her feel safe. When she is a little bit bigger she will move into her own bedroom.
Ruth already has her own room and she has lots of toys in there. It is painted yellow and she has flowers on her curtains. I wonder what colour Alice’s bedroom will be?
Blue or pink or perhaps all the colours of the rainbow
On Sundays Alice goes to church with her daddy, mummy and Ruth.
She likes to see all the people there, and enjoys the singing.
(This would be copy of new certificate with adoptive surname)
Alice’s name is Alice –like Alice in Wonderland
and her second name is Rose.
Just like the pretty flower and it is her grandma’s name too.
Her last name is James – the same as her mummy and daddy and sister. Alice’s first name has always been Alice but when she was first born her other 2 names were different. How could this be? (With increase in social networking sites I would advise against putting in birth surname or a copy of original birth certificate in the book – this will be available elsewhere and can be shared when age appropriate)
Well, families come in all shapes and sizes and children join families in all sorts of ways. Some children are born into them, some live with aunts and uncles, grandparents, friends, special guardians or foster carers and some are adopted into their families.
Foster carers usually look after children for a short while, until they can move on to a new family. Sarah and Dan were Alice’s foster carers.
Adoptive parents are forever parents – children stay with their adoptive mums and dads until they are all grown up and until they feel ready to have home of their own. Sue and Jack are Alice’s adoptive parents.
There are lots of other adopted children in Surrey and in the whole country, and indeed all over the world.
Alice’s great aunty Jane, that’s her grandma’s sister, is adopted and Alice’s sister, Ruth is also adopted.
There are lots of famous people and characters that have been adopted too. Some of these are:
Baby Moses
Superman
and Paddington Bear! Now he is very famous and has lots of books written about him.
So like thousands of other children Alice was adopted and this is how she became:
Alice Rose James
Like most children, Alice was born in hospital. She was born in London Hospital
The London Hospital
Alice was born on the 1stJune 2014, so in the summer time and it was a nice sunny day.
Hurray – it's a baby girl!
The 1st June was a Saturday
Alice is a Saturday’s Child
Monday's child is fair of face,
Tuesday's child is full of grace,
Wednesday's child is all aglow, (note slight change!)
Thursday's child has far to go,
Friday's child is loving and giving,
Saturday's child works hard for a living,
But the child that's born on the Sabbath day is bonny and blithe, and good always.
Alice was born early in the morning at 7.15 am -‐ that’s the same as saying 15 minutes past 7, so Alice arrived just in time for breakfast!
Here’s a picture of Alice with the nurse, just after she was born.
Alice was a good size and weighed 4.07kgs (8.95lbs) when she was born.
This is about the same as four and a quarter bags of sugar
All of the nurses and doctors at the hospital agreed that Alice was a gorgeous, loveable baby and they all enjoyed caring for her.
Like all babies Alice has a birth mother and a birth father. Alice’s birth mother is Katie – and like all babies, Alice grew inside her birth mother, Katie.
Katie had long dark, curly brown hair, but she usually liked it tied back in a ponytail, and she had blue eyes. She was quite tall and slim. She had fair skin and some freckles and her feet were size 6.
Here is Katie, just before Alice was born.
And here is Katie holding baby Alice soon after she was born.
Katie thought that Alice was a beautiful, loveable baby and she decided to call her Alice -‐ as this is her second name – she is Katie Alice -‐ and Katie wanted the baby to have this name so she would always have ‘part of her’.
Katie was only 18 years old when she realised that she was going to have a baby and she had just gone to University -‐ that’ s a bit like a school -‐ but for grown ups. Katie was still learning and hoping to become a teacher in a few years time.
Katie didn’t have a boyfriend and she said that she just didn’t know anything about Alice’s
birth father. She met him at a party but couldn’t remember anything else about him and she didn’t see him again.
Katie told her big sister that she was going to have a baby but she decided not to tell anyone else in her family. Katie didn't have a job or a home of her own and as she was still learning how to be a teacher she didn’t think that she would be able to do this and look after baby Alice in the way that she should be looked after
Katie had just had her 19th birthday a few days before Alice was born. She thought that Alice was a lovely baby but she felt that she just wouldn’t be able to give her all the time and care that babies must have.
Bringing up children is a bit like building a wall. To make tall, strong walls you need a very good foundation and then, using just the right amount of cement, you carefully lay all the different bricks on top. You can see from this wall of bricks that children need love, but they also need lots of different kinds of caring to help them grow properly, and they need to be cared for by grownups who know how to look after children.
Katie just didn’t think that she would be able to do all of these things, so when the doctors and nurses said that baby Alice was a very healthy baby and she was ready to leave the hospital when she was 4 days old, Katie thought that it would be best for Alice to live with foster carers, just for a little while, until she could move to a new mummy and daddy.
Sarah and Dan were just the right foster carers as they had looked after lots of babies, so they came to see baby Alice just after she was born. They knew all about caring for little babies.
TALKS TALKS
TAKEN TO SCHOOL
CUDDLES CLEAN CLOTHES
RULES
PLAY TIMES BED TIMES
WARMTH
LAUGHS
STORIES TALKS
KISSES
ATTENTION
GOOD FOOD
CHECK HOMEWORK
HUGS
A SAFE HOME
FUN
DOCTOR CHECKS
LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE
DENTAL CHECKS
Here is Sarah cuddling and saying hello to Alice and talking to the doctor at the hospital.
Sarah and Dan also thought that baby Alice was gorgeous and they took some photographs of her and put them in a special Alice Photograph Album.
Before she left the hospital Katie dressed Alice in a pretty new blue and pink baby grow that she has bought especially for her to wear when leaving hospital.
Katie met the foster carers at the hospital and she was pleased to know that they would be looking after little Alice for a while. Katie gave Alice a big cuddle and a kiss before she left and she gave her a special present-‐ a teddy bear – yes it was Bertie.
So this is how, when she was just 4 days old, Alice left the hospital and went to live with her foster carers, Sarah and Dan
Sarah and Dan knew exactly how to look after newborn babies. Not only had they looked after lots of other babies, but they had also had children and grandchildren too.
Sarah and Dan with baby Alice.
At first it would have been a bit strange for little baby Alice, but she very quickly settled with Sarah and Dan. In their care Alice soon grew into a happy, healthy baby.
Lots of important and interesting things happened to Alice when she was living with Sarah and Dan.
Alice learnt how to roll over
And to kick her legs
And she tried to crawl
And she grew and put on just the right amount of weight
Alice also had her first Christmas
Look at all those presents. I wonder what was inside those boxes!
Although Alice was doing very well with Sarah and her family, and they all loved looking after her, everybody thought she was such a precious little girl that she really needed a new family all of her own. Alice’s birth mother, Katie also wanted Alice to go to the right family. She told the social worker that she would like Alice to have a family where she would have a brother or sister, where she would have grandparents and lots of aunts, uncles and cousins and she also said that she hoped that they would take Alice to church.
But the most important thing that Katie wanted was to know that Alice would be loved and happy.
When Katie knew that social workers had found the right mummy and daddy for Alice, she went to the foster home to see Alice again and to give her a farewell kiss and cuddle.
Katie also wanted to meet Alice’s mummy and daddy. They were pleased to meet Katie and told her about themselves and the family and also told her just how much they would love Alice and look after her forever and ever!
Katie was very pleased to know all of this and she was also glad that Alice would have a big sister and a mummy and daddy who would always love her.
Katie meeting Mummy and Daddy
Alice’s mummy and daddy also told Katie that they would send a letter to her every year, through the social worker, with news so that Katie would know that Alice was okay and what she liked doing.
Katie
Baby Alice with Mummy, Daddy, Ruth and Ginger
Sue and Jack were just the right grownups to be Alice’s mummy and daddy. They knew what to do to help her grow into a healthy, strong child, just like that strong brick wall. They knew that babies and children need lots of love and cuddles, plenty of sleep, good food, a warm house, clean clothes, lots of fun, games and playtimes, as well as just the right number of rules to make sure that they are kept safe and secure.
Alice’s mummy and daddy lived only a few miles away from Sarah and Dan’s house. They had heard all about Alice from the social workers and they had meet Sarah and Dan and had seen some photographs and a video of Alice and they thought that she was just lovely. They came to meet Alice for the very first time a few weeks before Christmas and you could say it was just ‘love at first sight’.
They thought she was beautiful with her big eyes and curly hair. They knew they would love her very much.
Alice was a bit shy at first, but because she had also seen photographs and a video of Mummy, Daddy and heard their voices, she soon had a big smile on her face.
They came to see her a few times before Christmas and sometimes Ruth came too and she also fell in love with little Alice very quickly and couldn’t wait for her baby sister to come home with her.
After Christmas, Mummy and Daddy started to visit Alice every day so that they could get to know each other very well. Sarah and Dan were able to tell mummy and daddy all the important things about Alice -‐ what time she woke up, what time she went to sleep, what things she liked and what she didn't like and the things that make her feel happy and things that make her feel sad.
The foster carers were very pleased too for although they knew that they would miss Alice they were very glad to know that she would have such a lovely mummy and daddy all of her own – and a lovely big sister too.
Soon after this Sarah and Dan packed up all of Alice’s things…and there were a lot of things for such a little person, including cards and presents from their family and friends!
The foster carer had put some of these things in Alice’s memory box and she also gave her a
photograph album and a special memory book telling her all about the time she lived with them. They all gave Alice lots of kisses and big hugs, and then Alice made the journey to her new home in Surrey.
So Alice moved to her new home when she was a few months old – and that is how she became Sue and Jack’s precious little daughter.
Of course it must have been very strange for little Alice when she first moved to her new home. Although Sue and Jack knew they were going to be Alice’s mummy and daddy forever, she would have been too young to understand this at the time.
Alice had to get use to her new home.
The rooms looked different, her bedroom was different, the furniture was different, the smells were different, and the food was different. There were different ‘James’ ways of doing things, and perhaps they even had different words for things. What a lot of new things for such a little baby to get use to!
Alice’s mummy and daddy realised this and they knew it was all very strange for their little baby girl and she did not sleep very well at first and needed lots of cuddles, and then she would eventually fall to sleep.
She was still able to eat lots of the right food – although sometimes it would end up on daddy’s head! And Alice and mummy thought that this was very funny!
Her mummy and daddy knew that in time, with their love and care, and all the attention and love from Ruth, Alice would feel happy, safe and secure – and of course they were right!
The most important thing was that Alice’s mum and dad understood her, they looked after her and they knew just what she needed.
Sue and Jack love her dearly.
Hayley loves her little sister too and helped to settle Alice into the home. She would play with Alice and make her giggle and smile.
Some big sister’s may worry about having to share their mum and dad when a new baby arrives, but Ruth didn't have to worry at all. I am sure that she knows just how much mummy and daddy love her too. Their hearts are very big and their love just keeps growing and growing
Love just grows and grows and grows……………
After Alice had been living with her mummy, daddy and Ruth for a few months, and they all knew each other very well, everyone went to court in London to see the wise judge. Judges are very clever and important people and they made very big decisions,
Mummy, daddy, Ruth and the social workers were there, as well as the most important person that day -‐ ALICE! They all went to court.
The judge listened to everyone, read all the reports and heard all about Katie. He said “hello” especially to Alice and to Ruth.
The judge agreed that Alice needed lots of love and deserved very special care -‐ and she could see that this is exactly what she was getting from her mummy and daddy.
Here they are at Court meeting the Judge
The Judge granted an Adoption Order and signed the Adoption Certificate. Alice would have a new birth certificate with her new middle and last name -‐ and that is how Alice became legally and officially:
Alice Rose James.
Hurray!
Congratulations Everyone!
And afterwards at home they had a party and grandma and granddad came and they had special cakes.
So Alice has been living with her mummy, daddy and big sister Ruth for quite a long time now and they are a very happy family.
A lovely drawing that Ruth did of the family
Our Happy Family
As you can see from this photo Alice is still a very cute little girl. She has lots of energy and is still very smiley and she is growing taller by the day!
Alice is now walking – and even running around, especially when she tries to chase that cat!
They have had their first holiday all together
Ruth went in the sea and Alice had her 1st Birthday
Alice’s mummy and daddy love her very much and they know All About Alice. They know that:
Alice loves to giggle!
Alice loves to go to the park to feed the ducks.
Alice likes her fruit and drinks milk, which helps her grow big and strong – and sometimes she has a biscuit too.
Alice still has a very ‘strong pair of lungs’ and will let people know if she is feeling cross or unhappy.
What a noise
Ruth is very good at helping and will make funny faces at Alice to make her laugh, while
mummy or daddy changes her nappy.
Alice’s mummy and daddy also know that to grow into a healthy little girl she needs plenty of sleep. So before Alice goes to bed there is story time and a nice drink.
Ruth often joins in and helps mum and dad get Alice ready for bed.
Goodnight Alice!
So as you can see, Alice’s mummy and daddy know so many important things about her.
I wonder what Alice will be when she grows up?
I wonder?
Perhaps she will work in an office, like daddy or work in hospital like mummy, as a nurse or a doctor. Perhaps she will be a teacher, like Katie, or perhaps she will be something quite different -‐ like a builder or train driver!
But I know that there are some things I don’t need to wonder about at all! I know for sure that whatever Alice decides to do in the future, her mummy and daddy will be there to help her, to guide her, and to love her. They will always be her mummy and daddy, and Alice will always be their very, very precious little girl…
This may seem like the end of Alice’s book but Alice’s life journey will go on and on and there will be lots more love and fun to come!
(You could add a few more of your favourite photographs to finish the book, or continue to add
more over the years if you wish)