ECED117_Fall'2024_Week 6

Trends in American Family Structures: Implications for Educators

ECED 117 - Family, Community, and School Relationships in a Diverse Society

Week 4

What are diverse family forms?

https://www.menti.com/alqc8ddidfcm

Gay and Lesbian Families

Single-Parent Families

Blended Families

Traditional Nuclear Families

Immigrant Families

Adoptive and Foster Families

Intergenerational and Multigenerational Families

1. Some couples or single adults create families with children through adoption or foster care.

Second-Order Changes in Family Status Required to Proceed Developmentally

a. Maintaining of own and/or couple functioning and interests in face of physiological decline: exploration of new familial and social roles b. Supporting more central role of middle generations c. Realignment of the system in relation to community and larger social system to acknowledge changed pattern of family relationships of this stage d. Making room in the system for the wisdom and experience of the elders e. Supporting older generation without overfunctioning for them

Emotional Process of Transition: Key Principles

Accepting the shifting generational roles

• Blaming and Bargaining: Individuals may seek reasons for the event (blaming) or attempt to change the situation (bargaining).
• Anger: A sense of injustice can lead to anger directed at the event, others involved, or even displaced onto others.
• Bargaining Efforts: Attempts to restore things to normalcy through promises or deals.

Second-Order Changes in Family Status Required to Proceed Developmentally

a. Formation of partner systems b. Realignment of relationships with extended family, friends, and larger community and social system to include new partners

Emotional Process of Transition: Key Principles

Commitment to new system

• Initial Response: Disbelief, denial, or minimization of the event.
• Numbness: A temporary emotional numbing phase.
• Emotional Reactions: Feelings of pain, grief, withdrawal, or quietness.
• Acceptance: As reality sets in, denial gives way to a desire to recapture what was lost.

Second-Order Changes in Family Status Required to Proceed Developmentally

a. Renegotiation of couple system as a dyad b. Development of adult-to-adult relationships between parents and grown children c. Realignment of relationships to include in-laws and grandchildren d. Realignment of relationships with community and larger social system to include new structure and constellation of family relationships e. Exploration of new interests/career given the freedom from child care responsibilities f. Dealing with care needs, disabilities, and deaths of parents (grandparents)

Emotional Process of Transition: Key Principles

Accepting a multitude of exits from and entries into the system

This one is more inclusive of “household members, other primary caretakers, or siblings of children (regardless of family composition).

1. A father, mother and their children in an intact first family, with mom staying at home to care for the children and household and dad working outside the home.

2. Another term for traditional nuclear family is immediate family.

In an immigrant family, one or more members have moved from their country of origin to live in another country, typically seeking better opportunities, safety, or improved living conditions.

Second-Order Changes in Family Status Required to Proceed Developmentally

a. Differentiation of self in relation to family of origin b. Development of intimate peer relationship c. Establishment of self in respect to work and financial independence d. Establishment of self in community and larger society

Emotional Process of Transition: Key Principles

Accepting emotional and financial responsibility for self

1. An increasing number of grandparents are raising children, forming intergenerational or multigenerational family structures with adult children and grandchildren.

• Using the key processes of family resilience proposed in Walsh’s framework (divided into the three primary areas of belief systems, organizational patterns, and communication/problem solving), think of specific families you have come to know that have dealt with normative family life-cycle transitions well. Describe the families’ resilience using Walsh’s framework to explain how they were able to cope as well as they did. (2 pages double-spaced response.)

Second-Order Changes in Family Status Required to Proceed Developmentally

a. Dealing with loss of spouse, siblings, and other peers b. Making preparations for death and legacy c. Managing reversed roles in caretaking between middle and older generations d. Realignment of relationships with larger community and social system to acknowledge changing life-cycle relationships

Emotional Process of Transition: Key Principles

Accepting the realities of limitations and death and completion of one cycle of life

• Depression and Sadness: Anger can turn inward as individuals come to terms with the event.
• Overwhelmingness: Facing daily life and future implications can be overwhelming.
• Importance of Sharing: Talking about feelings and experiences can be beneficial for recovery.
• Support from Others: Sharing with outsiders can offer significant support.
• Avoidance of Discussion: Cutting oneself off from others can hinder recovery.

Second-Order Changes in Family Status Required to Proceed Developmentally

a. Adjusting of couple system to make space for children b. Collaboration in child rearing, financial, and housekeeping tasks c. Realignment of relationships with extended family to include parenting and grandparenting roles d. Realignment of relationships with community and larger social system to include new family structure and relationships

Emotional Process of Transition: Key Principles

Accepting new members into the system

1. Remarried couples bring children from previous marriages into their new union to form a blended family (a term preferred to the older one of stepfamily)

Second-Order Changes in Family Status Required to Proceed Developmentally

a. Shifting of parent/child relationships to permit adolescent to move into and out of system b. Refocus on midlife couple and career issues c. Beginning shift toward caring for older generation d. Realignment with community and larger social system to include shifting family of emerging adolescent and parents in new formation pattern of relating

Emotional Process of Transition: Key Principles

Increasing flexibility of family boundaries to permit children’s independence and grandparents’ frailties

Suppose that you must discuss a particular difficult situation that one of your students is experiencing with their parents, such as in the Miller family example. As you prepare for your meeting with the parents, consider how this might lead to a crisis situation for the family. Use the following questions to determine how you would like to approach this, considering each of the stages of crisis that the family may encounter:

• How will you state your case?
• What information/resources will you bring to the meeting?
• What words and phrases will you use or avoid?
• What will you do in cases where parents are reluctant to follow through with steps that must be taken (e.g., evaluation of student, special placement)?
• How will you be able to maintain the positive working relationship you have built with them, while also trying to make sure that your student gets what he or she needs?
• Are there any specific roles you can assist the family with during their crisis (e.g., supportive or advocacy role)?
• Who might you go to for guidance and support? (2 pages double-spaced response.)

• Gradual Progress: Individuals and families make progress toward recovery.
• Turning Event: A decision or action signals movement forward (e.g., getting rid of mementos, joining a group).
• Communication: Talking about the loss or experience facilitates reorganization.
• Timeframe: Recovery time varies depending on factors like loss level, trauma, severity, and impact.
• No Prescribed Timeframe: There is no set timeline for recovery.

Children enter gay families in many different ways; some may be adopted or born to a heterosexual union before a divorce. In some cases, lesbians may choose to become parents through surrogate parenting, foster parenting, or through artificial insemination with an unknown or known donor.

Single-parent families include children and an adult who is divorced, never married, or one who has experienced the death of a spouse.