Refugee Resettlement and Parenting in a Different Context

Abstract

This article discusses the family dynamics of South Sudanese parents who arrived in New Zealand as quota refugees. It investigates how they experience parenting in relation to language barriers, gender roles, and cultural differences in raising children. The article reports on in-depth interviews with four solo mothers and two married fathers during which participants commonly expressed tensions between finding a workable relationship between traditional parenting and current expectations in New Zealand. This study identifies some potential pathways for working with refugee families who are raising children in resettlement contexts and highlights several key considerations concerning settlement support and gender.

KEYWORDS:

• Refugee
• parenting
• gender
• acculturation
• integration
• support