Week 4

Lesson 23: Family Structures

Family
✓ Came from the Latin word “familia” which means GROUP OF PEOPLE LIVING IN THE HOUSEHOLD
✓ BASIC UNIT OF SOCIETY
✓ SMALLEST ORGANIZATION IN THE COMMUNITY
✓ Usually composed of mother, father and children, some other includes grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and other
relatives

TYPES OF FAMILY STRUCTURES

FAMILY STRUCTURE DEFINITION EXAMPLE
It is also known as “conjugal” or “traditional”
Nuclear Family family, consisting of married couples and their Mother, father and children
offspring.
This type of family includes all relatives in
A family living together mother, father,
proximity, such as grandparents, aunts, uncles,
Extended Family children, grandparents, aunts, uncles
and cousins. these relatives typically live
and other relatives in one roof
together, and all share daily household duties.
This family type includes one parent and their
Father with his children or a mother
children only. A single parent family could be the
Single Parent Family with her children living in one
result of a divorce, the death of one parent, or
household.
even a single parent adoption.
A family where the parents have divorced and
Mother, children, stepfather and his
remarried, bringing children from other unions
kids
Step Family together to form a new nuclear family. It is also
Father, children stepmother and her
known as “blended” family, because two families
kids
were combined.
A family includes parent who serves as a
temporary guardian for one or more children to
Foster Family Parents, children, foster child
whom they may or may not be biologically
related.
A family wherein parents may adopt a child to
Adopted/Adoptive Parents (mother and father), adopted
whom they share no blood relationship or one
Family child
parent may adopt the child of the other parent.
Bi-racial or Multi-racial A family wherein parents are from different Filipina mother, American father,
Family races. children
Trans-racial Adoptive A family wherein parents adopted a child with a American parents, adopted Filipino
Family different race. children
A family wherein one of the family members is Family members are together except
Conditionally Separated conditionally separated from the others. This for the father working abroad. Family
Family separation may be due to their job or is living together, except the eldest
employment or could be due to hospitalization. child who is serving on the military.
Childless Family Married couple without children. Mother and father only
A family wherein one or both parents have a
A lesbian mother and her children with
Gay or Lesbian Family different sexual orientation and is part of the
a gay father
LGBT community.
 It is a family who settles together in a different
A family who migrated from a place
Migrant Family place; it could be from one place to another due
because the father is a military officer
to some circumstances such as the father’s job.
A family whose mom is already an
A family wherein one or both parents are
immigrant of Canada. Their mother is
Immigrant Family already an immigrant of other country. Their
already a Canadian citizen but the rest
children may be or may not be an immigrant.
of the family members are not.

Guardians
✓ PEOPLE THAT ACT PARENT ROLES IN CARING AND PROTECTING CHILDREN’S OVERALL WELL-BEING

FAMILY LEGACIES

EMOTIONAL LEGACY. In order to prosper, children need an enduring sense of security and stability nurtured in an
environment of safety and love.

STRONG EMOTIONAL LEGACY

• Provides a safe environment in which deep emotional roots can grow
• Fosters confidence through stability
• Conveys a tone of trusting support
• Nurtures a strong sense of positive identity
• Creates a “resting place” for the soul
• Demonstrates unconditional love

SOCIAL LEGACY. To really succeed in life, children need to learn more than management strategies, accounting, reading,
writing and geometry. They need to learn the art of relating to people (the art of socialization). If they learn how to relate
well to others, they’ll have advantage in living life.

KEY BUILDING BLOCKS OF CHILDREN’S SOCIAL LEGACY

• Respect, beginning with themselves and working out to other people
• Responsibility, fostered by respect for themselves, that is cultivated by assigning children duties within the family,
making them accountable for their actions and giving them room to make wrong choices once in a while
• Unconditional love and acceptance by their parents, combined with conditional acceptance when the parent’s
discipline for bad behavior or actions
• The setting of social boundaries concerning how to relate to God, authority, peers, the environment and siblings
• Rules that are given within a loving relationship

SPIRITUAL LEGACY. The Spiritual Legacy is the least in priority, but that’s a mistake. As spiritual beings, we adopt
attitudes and beliefs about spiritual matters from one person or another. Parents need to take the initiative and present faith
to their children.

Here are five (5) things you do that predict whether your children will receive the spiritual legacy a
Christian parent desires. Do you:
1. Acknowledge and reinforce spiritual realities? Do your children know, for example, that Jesus loves everyone? That
God is personal, loving and will forgive us?
2. View God as a personal, caring being who is to be loved and respected?
3. Make spiritual activities a routine part of life?
4. Clarify timeless truth – what’s right and wrong?
5. Incorporate spiritual principles into everyday living?
 Lesson 23: Making Family Genogram

Genogram
✓ A genogram (pronounced: jen-uh-gram) is A GRAPHIC REPRESENTATION OF A FAMILY TREE THAT DISPLAYS
DETAILED DATE ON RELATIONSHIPS AMONG INDIVIDUALS.
✓ A more complex family tree because it describes not only the family physical and social relationships but also the
emotional connections and other family attributes are described.
✓ First developed and popularized in clinical settings by Monica McGoldrick and Randy Gerson through the publication of a
book in 1985.

Genogram Symbols
✓ A genogram is CREATED WITH SIMPLE SYMBOLS REPRESENTING THE GENDER, WITH VARIOUS LINES TO
ILLUSTRATE RELATIONSHIPS, PHYSICAL AND PHYSIOLOGICAL ATTRIBUTES OF MEMBERS IN A FAMILY.
These symbols carry comprehensive meanings in multiple aspects, such as health status, family relationships, emotional
relationships and medical issues.

BASIC GENOGRAM SYMBOLS

• Carry necessary information of a person: gender, birth and age, immigration, sexual orientation and pregnancy situation,
etc.
• Genogram symbols usually display the date of birth (and date of death if applicable) above the box and the name of the
individual underneath.
• The inside of the symbol will hold the person’s current age or various codes for genetic disease or use-defined
properties: abortions, still-births, SIDS, cohabitation, etc.
 FAMILY RELATIONSHIP SYMBOLS
• A family relationship genogram conveys much more information and is way more complicated than a family tree.
• Referring to family relationships, you can illustrate whether a couple is married, engaged, common-law, divorced or
separated with simple color-coded lines and symbols.
 EMOTIONAL RELATIONSHIP SYMBOLS
• Used to describe the emotional bond between any two individuals in the genogram.
• For example: You can tell whether a couple is in love or not by checking the connecting lines colors.
• Usually, green means a couple is in a harmonious relationship, while red implicates the conflicts between them.
• Be careful; If you happen to see the blue lines in the diagram, there are domestic abuses in this family.

MEDICAL GENOGRAM SYMBOLS

• Play the most crucial role in genograms.
• Provide a quick and scientific context that indicates the possibility of an individual’s health risks.
 MONOCHROME MEDICAL GENOGRAM SYMBOLS
• By structuring the diseases and conditions in a family, a medical genogram can help you take precautions to avoid
genetic diseases and illness if you are going to have a baby.

COLORED MEDICAL GENOGRAM SYMBOLS

• Consists of all common genetic diseases, such as heart disease, diabetes, cancer, down syndrome, depression and
asthma, etc.
 HOW TO DRAW GENOGRAM: STEPS
1. Know your reason for making a genogram to help you determine the type of family information you want to indicate.
2. Name all the members of your family kinship that you wanted to include in your genogram.
3. Organize questions to gather facts and figures about your relatives to be included in the genogram.
4. Write down notes how everyone in your family is connected.
5. Solicit information starting with the oldest generation down the line.