Fostering Life Stories

There are many personal reasons to preserve digital materials on Permanent.org and not all of them are a personal legacy. Sometimes we may be the stewards of others’ stories.

Steven and his wife are foster parents for young children. They want to make sure that the memories their foster children create with them are stored in a safe place so that, when they’re ready to revisit their past, they have a complete picture of their life preserved.

Foster children are often returned to challenging conditions, family instability, and financial insecurity. For many biological families, the care and preservation of important materials comes at a cost they cannot afford.

Permanent.org makes it easy for Steven to create Permanent Archives for his foster kids, upload digital materials that tell their story, share ownership with other adults in the children’s life, and personally endow their permanent storage.

STEVEN MESSICK is a music teacher and his wife is a school principal. They’re part of an active community of civic leaders and child advocates. As a conscious consumer, Steven cares deeply about data security, market accountability, and retaining ownership of his materials.

“I want my foster kids to have access to a complete life story when they’re ready for it, in 10, 20 or 50 years.”

Preserving Their Story

Photos of the foster children during their stay with Steven and his wife, including an album from their trip to Disney World, a video that captures one second everyday, mp3s of the kids’ favorite songs, medical and school documentation from CPS, therapy notes, scans of artwork the children made, and handwritten letters they wrote are all immortalized in the Permanent Archives he made for them.