School integration of adopted children: Parental perception and involved factors

Abstract

The school context is a key field in the adaptation process of adopted children. Numerous researches have shown difficulties in these children associated with their experiences before the adoption and with the lack of affection suffered in their early years of life. The aim of this research is to know the level of school adaptation of a group of 91 national and international adopted children, and the possible variables associated with it.The results point out that about 20% of the cases had shown difficulties in school adaptation process. These appeared to be associated with the age of adoption, gender and home country as well as certain pre-adoption experiences. They also show a relationship between school adjustment of children and their parents’ perception of the family adaptation. Implications for practice are discussed.