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Paper

Social inclusion of adoptive children and adolescents at school

• issue: Issue 2 / 2009
• authors: Alessandra Moro, Federica Elmetti, Michela Franchetti, Alessia Zanetti
• keywords: Italy, schooling, adoption

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abstract

Background. The aim is to give a picture of the current situation regarding schooling of adoptive children and adolescent in the Province of Padua, from the 1st of January 2006 to the 30st of September 2007. The report will underline the tendency, the characteristics and the criticalness in order to build up an effective procedure for intervention with school.

Tab. 1 - Children by geographical area, age and gender

During the latest few years, the public social service have worked hard to promote and spread the culture of welcoming, diversity and adoption at school (e.g. the leaflet "adoption and school"), in the awareness that school has always represent a privilege viewpoint on the world of socialization.

Helping adoptive children to succeed at school (in term of achieving a positive integration and socialization with his/her peers and developing various tools for an active learning) means first of all the knowledge of his/her specific needs, linked to his/her own background, which demand a specific reception.

This paper describe the situation of adoptive children who attend school in the province of Padua through the following variables: the number of insertion at school, the grade attended, the length of time between the arrival of the child in the adoptive family and the insertion at school, the choice of school (public vs private) and the schooling's background. The descriptive analysis was carried out on a sample of 113 children (all the population of the children adopted in the same time) living in the area of the Local Health Department n. 15, 16, 17. The data about health, psychological aspect, social situation and scholastic background of adoptive children were collected, processed and analyzed by an Excel spreadsheet.

Findings. During the period under review, in the province of Padua, were adopted 113 children: the average age at the time of adoption is 6 years old with a range that goes from 5 months to 14 years. The 76% (86) of this children were followed in the post adoption period by the public social service, while a further 23 % (26) were put under vigilance. There was only one case of moving to another province. You can notice that out the 79%(89) children attending school; the 50% (45) of them has been put in a class that is not compatible with their age as required by guidelines for the reception and integration of foreign students from our Ministry of Education. The 6% (5) of children attend kindergarten, 25% (22) attended the preschool, 60% (54) the primary school, 7% (6) the secondary school, and 2% (2) high school. The 73% of the children (65) was attending a public school, while the 27% children (24) attend private schools. The average time at school insertion corresponds to 91 days starting from when the children entered their adoptive family. However, in analyzing the time of school insertion of the 62 children who attend the primary, secondary and high school, we note that the average decreased to 53 days, ranging from a minimum of 2 days and a maximum of 120.

Considering the 62 children referred to above, 19 of them (31%) have started to attend school at the latest 15 days after their arrive in the adoptive family. Approximately 1/3 of children underwent an early school insertion at the expense of a gradual insertion as generally recommended by social workers.

Moreover, it is often difficult to have clear information about the previous course of study to assess the level of learning acquired, the criticality that emerges is that it is hard to find the appropriate class and the specific enabling an appropriate placement, as recommended in the guidelines of the Minister of Education.

Tab. 2 - Variable considered by the study

Graph 1 - Children attending school

Implications and recommendations. The progressive increase of adoptive children in scholastic age (88 out of 112) who are in most of cases foreigners (91 out of 112), demands a tighter collaboration between public and private organization which deal with the post adoption stage and the school themselves.

It must move away from the binomial "foreign children adopted immigrant children equal" to grasp the features of each type that requires different responses.

Key references

Chistolini M. ed. (2006). Scuola e Adozione - Linee guida e strumenti per operatori, insegnanti, genitori. Milano: Franco Angeli.

Collana Commissione per le Adozioni Internazionali (2003). L'inserimento scolastico dei minori stranieri adottati. Firenze: Istituto degli Innocenti.

Petrone S. (2007). L'integrazione culturale e scolastica dei bambini etiopi, in "L'Etiopia - Una realtà del continente africano", in Collana della Commissione per le Adozioni Internazionali, Istituto degli Innocenti, Firenze, pp. 207-235.

Contacts: Alessandra Moro, Equipe Adozioni, Azienda ULSS 16 Padova, Via Temanza n 1 35100 Padova ITALY, E-mail: alessandra.moro@sanita.padova.it, Phone +390498216116- +393299062239.