ABSTRACT
Decades of research demonstrate trauma is passed from parents to children and can negatively alter the way our youngest children view the world, engage with peers, focus in classrooms, and respond to challenges. Intergenerational trauma makes the work of those who support families with refugee backgrounds more complex. This chapter offers an understanding of intergenerational trauma, a look at how communities in host countries often contribute to this trauma, and the roles caregivers can play in addressing intergenerational trauma. Young children living with parents processing grief feel their parents' despair acutely and are likely to present negative emotional, behavioural, or academic concerns. The chapter offers vignettes of families living with fear and anxiety from years spent in refugee camps and additional trauma from being resettled in dangerous neighbourhoods in their host countries. For carers, understanding the home lives of the young children they work with can help to pinpoint causes of behaviour and offer possible avenues for support. Beyond educating young children, the research presented points to the need for early childhood staff to be advocates for the families they serve.
