Global Family Tree
Life across borders takes many forms. Every global journey is shaped by what grounds you and what grows from you.
The Global Family Tree helps families see what’s happening both beneath the surface and above it, the deeper roots that shape their experience and the living branches that express it. It’s a framework for understanding how your context and your daily life interact, and how both can grow stronger through awareness and care.
ROOTS: The Context Shaping the Family Experience
Roots represent the foundation of global family life, the parts often hidden from view but essential for stability and growth. They remind us that how we experience transition is never random; it’s shaped by the soil we’re planted in.
- Stage of Relocation
Each phase of an international move brings its own opportunities and stress points, from exploring the possibility to pre-departure, settling in, living abroad, and repatriation. Understanding where you are on this journey helps you anticipate needs and pace your family’s emotional and practical energy. - Stage of Life
The needs of a family with toddlers are different from those of teens or emerging adults. The Tree helps you see how each season of life, from pregnancy and infancy to an empty nest, colors your experience of global living and the kind of support your family requires. - Sense of Belonging
Where you feel “at home” isn’t always defined by geography. Belonging can be rooted in citizenship, language, community, or shared culture. Exploring these layers helps families nurture identity and connection even when the landscape keeps changing. - Family Features
Every family brings its own mix of personalities, strengths, and challenges. From neurodiversity to stress resilience, from being together to living apart, these features shape how you respond to change and how you support one another through it. - Relocation Experience
No two moves are alike. Some are exciting adventures, others are complicated or constrained by budget, time, or choice. Whether it’s your first or fifth move, your level of autonomy and past experiences influence how you adapt to the next chapter.
BRANCHES: Expressions of Family Life in Motion
Branches represent the visible side of global family life, what others see and what you experience day to day. They show how your family grows, connects, and expresses who you are in motion across cultures.
- Transition & Change
Global mobility affects every part of life: children’s development, educational continuity, and identity formation. This branch explores how your family navigates change while embracing multiculturalism and multilingualism as strengths. - Wellbeing
Physical and emotional health underpin every successful move. This branch reflects your sense of safety, access to healthcare, mental wellbeing, and the plans that protect your family when emergencies arise. - Relationships
Distance and difference reshape relationships. This branch captures how families maintain connection with loved ones far away, build new support systems locally, and find belonging in global and local communities. - Family Dynamics
Life abroad creates new rhythms, traditions, and ways of parenting. This branch looks at how your family’s daily life, from communication patterns to celebrations, adapts and evolves in different cultural settings. - Future
Every global family is on a trajectory. This branch invites you to reflect on your goals and hopes, educational ambitions, future moves, or plans to repatriate, and how you can align them with your family’s wellbeing and values.
Why a Tree?
Because global family life is alive. It grows, stretches, and changes with every new season. Your roots anchor you through uncertainty; your branches reach outward into possibility.
The Global Family Tree helps families understand how both layers interact, how what grounds you shapes what grows from you, and how awareness of both leads to greater balance, resilience, and intentional growth.