The representation of attachment in the adopted child

Case study through the narratives of children aged six to twelve

Abstract

Adoption or legal collection (Kafala) is a humanitarian act designed to provide the child deprived of a family a favorable family climate to rebuild his broken links with his biological parents. The purpose of this contribution is to analyze the quality of the bonds of attachment that the child collected in Kafala can weave with his adoptive parents (Kafiloune)
The results obtained by six subjects, using the test of history to be completed, coded by the procedure of the cards for the complete of histories, showed that indeed, the legal collection (Kafala) in good conditions, is a relevant path for the recovery of attachment links in the child deprived of family. Five of the six tested subjects developed a secure attachment representation. However, the small size of our sample highlights the relevance of another study on a larger sample.