Älskar dig för den du är: att adoptera äldre barn

Sammanfattning: The purpose of my study was to examine adoptive parents' experiences of adopting children older than three years of age. I wanted to look into what kind of information, help and support every adoptive parent had received. I also wanted to examine if the adoptive parents worried about anything concerning the children's emotional needs and in what way the adoptive parents prepared themselves for this, before the adoption. I asked the adoptive parents about their knowledge regarding the children's experiences from the time before the adoption and how things had been going since the children came to Sweden. To achieve my purpose I interviewed six adoptive parents from five families, with a total of eleven internationally adopted older children. The research findings of my study showed that a risk exists for older adopted children to suffer emotionally because of earlier experiences. To overcome this, the adoptive parents need lots of information and support. This should, in my opinion, be received from social workers who are working with adoptions.