Books, booklets & multimedia

Picnic in the Park

	Price: £8.95	BAAF, 2007 ISBN 978 1 905664 08 5

What is a family? There continues to be much debate about what constitutes a family. Some still see the traditional nuclear family as the ideal; others accept that the family is transforming itself, and today’s diversity of family life should be celebrated.

Practice in family placement has been cautious in reflecting this increased diversity. But we know that children have been successfully fostered and adopted by a range of families – single parent families, both female and male; gay and lesbian families; two-parent heterosexual families; multi-generational extended families, and so on.

Picnic in the Park is a fully illustrated book for children (aged 3-8 years) that tells the story of Jason’s birthday picnic and his guests. In so doing, it introduces children to a range of family structures, including two- and one-parent families; adoptive and foster families; gay and lesbian families; and step-families; and more, showing a diverse range of adults and children. Using the device of a birthday picnic in the park, each page shows a new set of guests coming to the party. Each one brings food and presents!

At the end of the book, children can record details about themselves, including their birth date, what birthday presents they would like to receive, and who’s in their family. On the final two pages, children are invited to draw their own family and colour it in.

Vividly illustrated, this book will provide family placement workers with an invaluable tool for introducing children to contemporary family structures in their preparation work prior to placement. It will be particularly helpful to use with a child or children moving to a family of different composition from that of their birth family. Indeed, given the scope of the contents, this book could be used with any child in any setting to introduce them to modern-day family structures.