Adoptivbarn : Skyddsfaktorer som främjar adoptivbarns anpassning och utveckling

by Östansjö, Marie

The purpose of this study was to examine which protective factors that promotes adjustment and development of adopted children. The questions were based on the perspective of the child, the adoptive parents and the environment/society. The ecology of human development, Sense of Coherence, attachment theory, Erikson’s Psychosocial stage of development and protective factors that concerns children in general were the theoretical basis. The study is based on a literature review design where five articles were selected to answer the questions. The data was processed and then presented in various types of categories. The results showed that protective factors to be found with in the child were based on the following categories: age, sex, self-esteem, adaptability, temperament och mental health. Among the adoptive parents: a sensivity to the signals of the child, a high financial standards and a parent family situation that were stable, played a prominent part as protective factors. Factors within the environment and society that were protective and promoted the adjustment and development of the adopted child were categorized as a good level of education, a good level of health care and that the adopted child were placed at a low age. As adoption can be seen as a protective factor itself, the conclusion were that adopted children who were placed at low age in the adoptive family, led to a good quality of adjustment and development for the child but further researches on factors that have an protective impact regarding adopted children will be needed. Key word: Adopted children, Protective factors, Adjustment, Development Förord Adoption är ett ämne som ligger mig varmt om hjärtat. Som jag ser det kan adoption ge de barn som inte kan få omvårdnad av sina biologiska föräldrar en möjlighet till att få den kärlek och omsorg som de så väl behöver i en adoptivfamilj. Jag vill ge ett stort varmt tack till min handledare Ingela Enmarker, som har väglett mig i mitt vetenskapliga skrivande under den här tiden. Dina kloka synpunkter och din uppmuntran har varit ett stort stöd för mig under arbetet med uppsatsen. Tack Ingela! Marie Innehållsförteckning