How Do I Use This Website?

This website is directed to all those interested in exploring and validating cross-cultural attachment beliefs, values and practices, as well as the impact of migration and resettlement on these beliefs, values and practices. It is specifically targeted to health and social service providers across Canada. The website is based on a print toolkit for use by service providers and it includes a project literature review and final report. The toolkit, web-site, literature review and final report are also available in French.

This website/toolkit can be downloaded in its entirety and used as a tool for service providers and program development.

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This web-site contains practical information and resources to assist community, health and social service agencies across Canada in understanding, promoting and maintaining effective cross-cultural attachment practices among program participants, individually, and collectively. It also generates a better understanding of the impact that migration and resettlement in a new country may have on the development of young children. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, it provides some specific ideas to generate discussion and sharing of experiences among program participants from all over the world.

The website is divided into the following sections, with the first section providing an introduction to the project and the website, the next three sections corresponding to the three objectives of the project, and the last including a list of additional resources:

1. About the Project
2. Beliefs, Values, and Practices
3. Impact of Migration
4. Barriers and Support
5. Resource Centre
6. Research Report

The Cover Pages are meant to be used as tools. Please be creative and use them in whatever way best suits your needs. Here are some ideas:
1. Create a display on Cross-Cultural Attachment.
You can add other materials from the toolkit to enhance the display, or add relevant materials from your organization. You can include lists of services and programs that you offer, photographs of your clients interacting with their children, quotes from your clients, and lists of resources that you have.

2. Initiate discussions with parents individually or in groups.
Ask parents questions based on the photographs and quotes on the cover pages. Here are some suggestions for questions that you might ask.

Beliefs, Values and Practices
How do you see your role in feeding your child(ren)?
How do you show love to your child(ren)?
How do you comfort your child(ren)?

Impact of Migration
What does home mean to you?
How has your move to Canada affected the way you show love to and respond to your child?

Maintaining Effective Practices
Do you feel that your parenting practices are respected in Canada?
What barriers do you face?
What support do you need?
What could we do to offer more support?

3. Put the cover pages up on a bulletin board with questions in different languages. Ask parents to pin up photos demonstrating their responses or provide paper and markers for them to write responses and pin them up. Some questions along with their translations into multiple languages have been provided in the toolkit.

Quotations from interviews are included throughout the text to support the project findings. Each section includes information on what parents and service providers defined as important in the form of fact sheets. Concrete information on program implications of the project findings, including specific suggestions for program activities are contained in Support Strategies.

There is one handout for parents entitled 'What is Attachment?'. It is a two-page document, written in plain language for you to photocopy and distribute to your clients. We encourage you to translate it into additional languages, if necessary. We also encourage you to adapt the fact sheets provided throughout the toolkit/website into plain language handouts that can also be translated into multiple languages.

Section V, Culturally Responsive Resources, is a bibliography of print, audio-visual, and internet resources, as well as organizations that can offer various types of support related to issues addressed in the toolkit/website.