167 CHILDREN PERSPECTIVE ON PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT IN THE EMIGRATION COUNTRY Aleksandra Batuchina Klaipėda University, Lithuania Abstract Topic of emigration from Lithuania became an important issue both in scientific dialogue and political arena. Huge migration waves bring nothing but social, economic, education and other problems for the country of origin and also for the decision making migrants. And the influence of migration touched already the most vulnerable part of the population – children. If they are left alone in Lithuania they suffer from separation with their parents, but if they migrate together they suffer as well, facing other issues, such as: foreign language, country, culture and different educational systems, if they have to transfer the school. School transition, adaptation in the new environment, new country by itself is already a very complicating and challenging process for the children’s development. Moreover, during such transition problems become even more complex and this time parental involvement plays an essential role. This research is based on the children perspective, how they see parental involvement in children adaptation process both in the new country and new school abroad. The aim of the study is to identify parental involvement in children adaptation process due to migration. KEYWORDS: parental involvement, school-age children, migration. Introduction and methodology After Lithuania's accession to the European Union, the intensification of emigration has become increasingly relevant topic not only on the public arena but also in the scientific discourse. Along with the departing residents Lithuania loses the economic, social and demographic potential. Moreover, migration in the recent years has been mentioned as a threat to the family institution (Maslauskaitė, Stankūnienė, 2007). One of the most controversial migration consequences in the recent years - transformation of family relations, as the effects for the both emigrating persons and their abandoned children (Juozeliūnienė, Kanapienienė, Kazlauskaitė, 2008; Maslauskaitė, Stankūnienė, 2007; Malinauskas, 2007; Liobikienė, 2009). However, in recent years, more and more families are determined to leave Lithuania together with their school-age children, thus it is leading to new challenges and problems of adaptation to their children in a new country and school. According to data from year 2013 NEMIS the number of children who were not going to school because of migration is 11,906 (8-18 year old children). The numbers indicate the menacing children emigration. On the other side of the growing number of immigrant children in schools in host countries is one of the most significant social and demographic changes in Europe over the past decades. Immigrant children are very important to the whole of European society. However, studies show that immigrant outcomes are often lower than the local population, they are more likely to be expelled from school (Jacob, Wilder 2010), have academic (Yadav, O'Reilly, Karim, 2010) and adaptation (Suárez - Orozco, Gayton, 2007 and others) problems. So together with the departure of parents school-age children have to adapt to the new environment of the country, but also to the new school, which may affect its future development, academic achievement (Rupšienė, Kučinskienė, Saveljeva, Osipkova, 2005; Rupšienė, Kučinskienė, 2006; Barkauskaitė, Mišeikytė, 2006; Rupšienė, Bitinas, 2007; Silver, Measelle, Armstrong, Essex, 2005; Gibbons, Telhaj, 2011). Students might become less motivated (Rice et al., 2010); they may develop depression, low self- esteem and severe adjustment after school environment (Yadav, O'Reilly, Karim, 2010). And in most cases, it occurs because of the serious adaptation period, the transition from the old school to the new homeland of foreign schools (Yuen, 2007; Rice, Frederickson, Seymour, 2011). However, research has shown that those children who were provided with assistance are dealing better with difficulties of school exchange (Silver, Measelle, Armstrong, Essex, 2010; Wright, 2010; Tan, Goldberg, 2009; Cowan, Cowan, 2009; Rupšienė et al., 2005). These results confirmed that the school change is a complex social pedagogical phenomenon with a significant influence on a child's development and evolution. As a result, successful school change and child’s adjustment in a new environment is determined by external support. Studies on the change of school is usually mention the support of the old peer Bellmore, 2011; Langenkamp, 2010), teacher support (Espinoza, Wang, Juvonen, 2011; Bellmore, 2011), parental involvement in education (Wright, 2010). Other authors Mortlock, Plowman, Glasgow (2011) argues that the success of a child's school change depends on relationships with others, and a comprehensive help: