Life Story Work: A Good Method to Reduce Child Vulnerability in Substitute Care

This chapter provides an overview of the hidden risks of exacerbating the vulnerability of children in need in the child protection system when implementing substitute care services, and introduces a participatory action research study in Estonian substitute care (2020–2023), which aimed to introduce and test the life story work (LSW) method. The central question of this chapter is: How to mitigate the risks of harm that could turn substitute care—a measure designed to protect maltreated children—into an institution of deepening childhood vulnerability? LSW has been implemented in many countries and shows positive results in supporting the development of the positive identity of the child. In Estonia, LSW is taking its first steps with this participatory action research.