Parenting Abroad: How Americans Can Build Strong Families

Raising a family abroad comes with incredible opportunities and unique challenges. From identity shifts to cultural adaptation, expat parents often find themselves balancing multiple worlds while trying to create stability for their children. On this week’s Passport to Wealth™, host Arielle Tucker CFP®, EA sat down with Angela Vitiello, founder of the Expat Parenting Collective, to discuss how globally mobile families can thrive through change.

Angela’s own story began in 2010, when an unexpected job loss led her to move from the U.S. to South Korea and eventually to the Netherlands and Belgium. Over the past decade, she’s transformed her experience into a mission: helping families navigate the emotional, cultural, and logistical complexities of raising children abroad.

“When you move overseas, things get more challenging for the couple as well,” Angela explained. “You are relying solely on each other, at least at first. It’s so important to build that support system between you and your partner.”

The Challenges of Expat Parenting

Angela shared that the biggest challenges expat parents face include parental burnout, identity shifts, and partnership strain. Without extended family nearby, the pressure to do everything alone can be overwhelming. She encourages parents to recognize their limits and communicate openly with their partners about when they need help.

Another core challenge is the loss and reinvention of identity. Moving abroad can shift how we see ourselves, especially when combined with the transition to parenthood. Angela recommends taking time to explore those feelings and to create a new sense of self within your global life.

“Our identity shifts when we have children, and it shifts again when we move countries,” she said. “We need to question who we are and what we stand for in each phase of life.”

Communication and Connection Are Key

For Angela, strong communication is the foundation of thriving abroad. She advises parents to clarify their values, boundaries, and fears as a family and to revisit them every few months as life evolves.

One of her practical tips: schedule a weekly relationship check-in. This regular time to talk about frustrations, needs, or changes keeps couples connected and prevents small issues from growing into larger ones.

“If you don’t allow space for conversations, they often don’t happen,” she said. “Even just seeing that check-in on your calendar reminds you that connection is a priority.”

Raising Third Culture Kids

As a mother of two third culture kids, children growing up in cultures different from their parents’, Angela knows firsthand how complex identity formation can be. Her household blends American, Italian, and Belgian influences, and she emphasizes that stability at home is the key to helping children thrive.

“Consistency and open communication are what matter most,” she shared. “When kids know they can talk about anything, whether it’s about a misunderstanding at school or how they feel about their identity, they feel secure.”

Angela also encourages parents to maintain language and cultural traditions while fostering curiosity about their host culture. “Curiosity is the bridge to understanding,” she says. “It helps children, and parents, adapt with compassion.”

Connect with Our Guest

Angela Vitiello is the founder of the Expat Parenting Collective, based in Brussels. With over a decade of experience living across three continents, she helps globally mobile families thrive through transitions. Angela is a certified coach, researcher, and intercultural communication expert, offering one-on-one coaching, group programs, and breathwork sessions for expat parents.

🌐 Learn more about her work at the Expat Parenting Collective. 

📸 Follow Angela on Instagram: @expatparentingcollective

More About the Author

Arielle Tucker is a Certified Financial Planner™ and Enrolled Agent, and the host of Passport to Wealth™, a show that helps Americans explore life, money, and opportunity abroad. She combines her financial expertise and personal experience as an expat to help others build fulfilling global lives.