La scolarité des enfants adoptés comparée à celle des non adoptés

Abstract

Objective To study the school course of adopted children, “Enfance et Familles d’Adoption” carried out an investigation which concerns 890 adoptive children and 180 nonadopted siblings for comparisons in an identical social background. Results The sample is without notable bias. At elementary school, the rate of failure for domestic adoptees in France is higher than intercountry adoptees (relative risk 2.3). This rate grows with the age at adoption (relative risk 2.2, for those adopted after one year compared to those adopted before). After college, adoptees born in Africa, in Latin America, and those born in France, are more often directed towards a professional cycle than the biological children or those born in Asia. The girls are more often directed towards a general cycle than the boys. In the sample, 92% of the nonadopted siblings are graduates and 63% of the adopted children, as national average. Let us note that 80% of the children born in Asia are graduates. These results confirm, for France, those of international work: children adopted younger have better performance in schooling; the teenage girls succeed better than boys; domestic adoptees are more at risk of school failure than international adoptees; school performance of children born in Asia is better than one of children of other origins; school performance of nonadopted siblings is better than adopted children; the success of the adoptive children is in the national average.