Migration is a process that might begin way before the
arrival of an individual or his family’s actual arrival in to a completely new
country and then go far beyond the initial 5 years of the life in that
particular country. The emotional process and the time of migration is never
easier. Its distinct stages are interconnected and strongly decided by several
factors. Moreover, the ability of a person or family to cope with the changing
and new circumstances makes every person and their family experience of the
migration unique.
When the families migrate to some other country, they
lose their homes, their communities and families and their language and even
the status within their communities. Moreover, they even experience trauma in
the migration process and also the culture shock on the arrival into that
country. All of such factors along with the acculturation process have a
significant effect on the mental health of the children and the parents and
thus offer challenges to their attachment relationships. Moreover at the same
time, majority of the families show great amounts of resilience in their
ability for continuing to promote secure attachment despite of all the challenges
they go through. As all the losses they have faced, parents focus all their
energy in creating and developing a better future for them.
The initial part of the migration process that families
have to go through when they migrate and then resettle in a new country is the
feeling of a loss of their home. It is crucial to think about attachment in the
context of how parents feel at home. It is important to know how parents define
home and that whether or not parents feel at home in the country they are
living in. All of these has implications for the attachment with the children.
The second effect of migration on the families is the
loss of family and community. The loss of the children and other family members
and the isolation that mothers usually experience even has an effect on their
attachment practices. At times, the separation of the immediate family members
takes place during the migration process. Few family members might come first
while the other family members follow a few months or some years later.
In the process of migration, families might lose their
family members either as a victim of a political violence or war or they might
get separated from each other while they are fleeing.
The third effect is the loss of language. The loss of the
ability of a mother to communicate with their families and communities by using
their mother tongue has an effect on the attachment. Mothers usually talk about
the difficulties they face in expressing themselves in language English and it
causes loneliness, frustration and depression they feel as a result.
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