About Me
Beth O'Malley M.Ed.
Personal...
Hi. My name is Beth O'Malley. This is my favorite baby picture. At age 5 months I entered my family by adoption, after living in 2 foster homes. I grew up in western Massachusetts, in a place called the Berkshires. It's beautiful. I have one older sister, Nancy. My parents are wonderful and still living in the Berkshires.
I was a happy little girl. But as I entered my teen years the questions started. I felt different. Soon many of my major life events would be related to adoption issues.
I believe that my life would have been very different if I had had my own adoption lifebook! And I was a healthy, white infant adoptee...
Professional...
In 1981, I received my Masters in Counseling from American University in Washington D.C. Soon after, I began working as a social worker in Boston's inner city. In 1994 I was ready to start my life's work as an adoption social worker.
Something deep inside of me "became alive" when I began making adoption and foster lifebooks for children in foster care. I started to see the world through a child's eyes and with different priorities. I also witnessed the tremendous healing that foster or adoption lifebooks brought to a child with many homes. It became one of the most meaningful things I did as an adoption worker, besides creating families.
Last but not least is the fact that my lifebook work led me to parenthood. Yes, that's right. In October 2003, my husband and I adopted an 11-month-old baby girl named Polina. This experience has been life-altering and adoption lifebook changing.
