Intervjuer med sju föräldrar och en pedagog
The aim of this study is to widen our knowledge about the basic idea about having an open preschool for adopted children as understood by parents of adopted children and a preschool teacher. Sweden has a large number of international adoptions, in an international comparison among the highest numbers of adoptions per capita. Interviews were carried out with seven adoptive parents and one preschool teacher teaching at a special preschool for adopted children. It was found that adoptive parents had no particular problems with placing their children in an "ordinary" preschool. However, they choose to place the children in an open preschool solely for adopted children because of the possibility of sharing similar experiences as parents and children as well. Activities at "Drippen" preschool were found mostly to be supportive of the adoptive parents. The interviewed preschool teacher was of the opinion that caring bodies such as Children's Health Centers and other similar institutions needed to develop a better understanding of both adoptive parents and their adopted children concerning developmental processes on their arrival in Sweden. Furthermore, the preschool teacher regarded Preschool "Drippen" as being like any other school except for the fact that children who attend there arrive with the experience of a significant separation, and thus ought be treated as infants regardless of their age on arrival. Because of this, the open preschool for adopted children tends to focus a great deal on establishing emotional connections with the adopted children and working with their language and physical development. Key words: adoption, attachment, identity, discrepancy, solidarity, foreign adoptions.