Proposes an approach for family therapy to assist immigrant parents in coping with significant changes created by migration and different parenting practices encountered in the host culture. A theoretical concept for understanding coping strategies is the model of the “adaptive adult” which parents can then apply in attempting to appropriately socialize their child. Using data collected over a seven-year period, the three most common coping strategies used by immigrant families were identified, and then animal metaphors were used to describe them: the Kangaroo strategy, the Cuckoo strategy, and the Chameleon strategy. The main benefit of this typology of coping strategies is that it provides a tool for understanding the family’s situation. (IP)
