Many Cultures, One Family: A Pilot Program for International Families

By Gloria Martinez, PEPS (Estimated reading time: 3 minutes)

For international families raising children in the U.S., where the culture and environment differ from their home countries, the parenting journey can be both exciting and overwhelming. They often encounter unique challenges as they try to balance their cultural traditions with the realities of a new setting and educational system.

PEPS, a local nonprofit that brings parents together in weekly peer-support groups to find support and build community, has been serving families in Puget Sound for over 40 years. Recognizing the need to support international parents raising teens in this country, PEPS conducted a comprehensive landscape analysis.

In 2024, PEPS:

• Designed and carried out a community survey that involved over 70 parents and gathered valuable insights.
• Conducted three focus group discussions attended by community leaders, parents, and teens to understand these families’ experiences better.

Some key findings from this landscape analysis included:

• Protecting the home culture and pride in that culture is a major priority for international parents. Parents and children often feel “sandwiched” between cultures, which makes communication confusing. Parents expressed struggles with ‘how to instill family values and enforce our house rules.’
• Parents want to connect with their children and are concerned for their child’s mental health, especially as it relates to balancing activities and busy schedules.
• Teens clearly expressed feeling tense about growing up as children of immigrants; they shared how different life at home is compared to at school, while parents voiced concerns for their child’s safety.
• International parents feel underinformed and overwhelmed by the US education system.
• 40% of the parents felt that navigating transitions between elementary, middle, and high school stages was among their biggest challenges.

PEPS analyzed the survey and focus group data, using the findings to shape its approach to addressing the unique needs of international parents within the PEPS Program for Parents of Adolescents and Teens (PAT). Based on these insights, PEPS created a specialized curriculum tailored for international families in collaboration with interns from the University of Washington’s Public Health program and local consultants with expertise in inclusive, holistic, and impactful program development. Together, they developed a series of topic guides to facilitate discussions during weekly parent peer-support meetings for families of adolescents and teens.

With these insights, PEPS launched a pilot group specifically for international families raising teenagers. In spring 2025, parents from Mexico, Colombia, Guatemala, India, Dubai, and Poland gathered weekly to share stories, discuss challenges, and exchange strategies.

Here is some of the feedback that parents provided from their participation:

“This program gave me new ideas and the right words to connect better with my teen.”

“I realized we are not alone—many parents from different countries face the same struggles.”

“It’s so important to honor our children’s lives and decisions, while also keeping our cultural traditions alive.”

Parents left feeling more confident, supported, and hopeful. They also valued learning practical tools—like how to navigate the U.S. school system and how to build resilience while balancing two cultures.

PEPS continues its work with new groups and workshops this fall, in partnership with organizations such as Neighborhood House and Bellevue LifeSpring. More pilot groups are planned for 2026 to reach even more families.

Every family contributes a unique thread to our multicultural community, transforming diversity into strength, joy, and shared growth. By supporting one another, we can make raising teens in the U.S. not only easier but also truly rewarding.

I personally benefited from these group discussions, and I want other international parents I know to benefit from them as well. I was sharing this program with a colleague in his early 20s from Chile, and he told me, ‘I wish my parents had these kinds of options when I was in school—it would have helped me in many ways.

PILOT Group participant

Interested in participating in an international families PEPS Group for parents of adolescents and teens? Contact PEPS at programs@peps.org.