Third Culture Kids

Third-culture kids are those who have spent some of their growing up years in a foreign country and experience a sense of not belonging to their passport country when they return to it. In adapting to life in a 'foreign' country they have also missed learning ways of their homeland and feel most at home in the 'third-culture' which they have created. Little understood by American schools, where they are often considered an oddity, what third culture kids want most is to be accepted as the individuals they are.

According to Kay Eakin, author of According to My Passport, I'm Coming Home, the term TCK was first used 40 years ago by Ruth Hill Useem in her research on North American children living in India. She and subsequent others found that TCK's cope rather than adjust, becoming both "a part of" and "apart from" whatever situation they are in. Mobile kids tend to have more in common with each other than with their American peers who have not had internationally mobile experiences. The family and international peer group has played a large role in their formation setting them apart when they return to the U.S. The search and establishment of a unique identity, Erik Eriksen's task for adolescents, may become blurred when the environment changes dramatically upon return. Internationally mobile teens often need longer to establish a secure identity as the American peer group does not match the image TCK's had overseas.

Adults encountering these kids can assist their transitions by creating comfortable environments within peer groups where they can share their concerns with others and realize that what they are experiencing is normal. Opportunities to reinforce good decision making skills are also helpful.

While overseas, they have lived in a fishbowl environment where decisions are made by the employer/authority, and the repercussions for risk-taking behavior are more severe. Teens have a smaller view of career opportunities in their overseas community and often are older than their American peers before deciding on a career. Problems in interpersonal relationships are more likely to be left behind during a move than resolved, depriving TCK's of 'practice' in a very important life skill. Organizations such as Around the World in A Lifetime (AWAL) in Washington and at some overseas posts provide the setting for TCK's to discuss and process their valuable history and devise strategies for 'coping' with life as an American youth.

Resources

• Third Culture Kids: Returning to their Passport Country - an article for families with children returning to the United States.
• To Be a Third Culture Kid - an article written from the point of view of a Foreign Service teen living abroad.
• TCK Research - features an article by Dr. Ruth Useem, one of the foremost experts in the field of TCK research.
• Global Nomad Virtual Village (GNVV) is a "virtual village" that provides third culture kids growing up in a foreign land a permanent "place" to keep in touch.
• Interaction International -  Interaction International is  dedicated to "Working cooperatively as a catalyst and resource in the development of programs, services, and publications to provide and contribute to an ongoing flow of care that meets the needs of third-culture kids (TCKs) and internationally mobile families." 
• TCK World - Focuses on military third culture kids 

Publications

• Eakin, Kay Branaman. According to My Passport I'm Coming Home. Washington D.C., Family Liaison Office, 1999.  
• Mcclusky, Karen Curnow, ed. Notes from a Traveling Childhood. Washington D.C., Foreign Service Youth Foundation, 1994.  A collection of writings by parents and children, educators, researchers and mental health professionals about the affects of international mobility on families. The 123-page anthology deals with parenting in new cultures, international education, a sense of roots, the impact of organizational affiliation, the difficulties of returning home after an extended period overseas, and moving from the child's perspective. Order this publication from the Foreign Service Youth Foundation
• Pollock, David C. and Ruth E. Van Reken. The Third Culture Kid Experience. Yarmouth, ME, Intercultural Press, 1999.
• Taber, Sara Mansfield. Of Many Lands: Journal of a Traveling Childhood. Washington D.C. Foreign Service Youth Foundation, 1997.  A learning and exploring tool to help those who have grown up in many countries put together the stories of their lives. It describes the author's experiences at different ages in several countries, followed by statements and questions designed to evoke the reader's own life experiences. Order this publication from the Foreign Service Youth Foundation

FLO Weblinks for Transition Issues and the Foreign Service Child

• Transition Issues and the Foreign Service Child
• Child Care
• Foreign Service Youth Foundation
• Talking with Youth About War, Crisis and Natural Disasters
• Third Culture Kids

Information provided by the Family Liaison Office
Contact the Family Liaison Office