Best Practice

Vulnerable pupils: Supporting adopted children in school

Adoptive parent and education leader, Sean Harris, considers some of the strategies and language that can be helpful to teachers when teaching adopted children and working with adoptive families
Image: Adobe Stock

Adopted children, regardless of the complexity of their background, are children – and each one is unique. It is important to acknowledge that some adopted children will have lived experience of hardship, trauma or turbulence.

School processes and routines might be difficult for students who have experienced significant trauma. While it is vital for schools to maintain positive expectations of all students, it is invaluable for teachers to remember that children are complex human beings and prone to making mistakes.

A sound understanding of adoption is important when serving children and families with lived experience of adoption.

 

Understanding adoption

Adoption is the legal process where a child or siblings who cannot be raised with their biological family become permanent and legal members of a new family.

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