Family Structures

Activity (pages 4-5)

Using your textbook (pages 72-74) complete the following family structures table. You need to:

• • Define each structure 

  • Note down the reasons why each structure exists

  • Provide an example of a family that "fits into" this structure. 

Watch: Channel 9, Cultural Conversations, We are Family.

Adoption is an option whereby permanent care is provided for children who are unable to live with their birth families. It is a legal process where all legal rights and responsibilities are transferred from birth parents to adoptive parents. There are two types of adoptions:

1.  Domestic:

   • Known child adoption – where the child and adoptive parents knew each other before adoption

   • Local adoption – where the child and adoptive parents did not know each other before adoption 

2.  Intercountry Adoptions:

Australian adoptive parents can also adopt children from overseas through an official Australian intercountry adoption program 

Answer the following question using  - Adoptions - Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (aihw.gov.au) 

How many adoptions were there in 2020-21? What is the most common form?

A blended family is a couple family that contains both a natural parent and step-parent – that is, a blended family has at least one child who is the biological child of both parents and at least one child who is the stepchild of either parent.

In some cases, blended families are a reflection of the ‘happy’ portrayal shown on the television; in others, however, a blended family may have experienced a separation or divorce, and children have had to deal with the grief and loss associated with a family break-up. 

In blended families, how many adults could potentially be in a child’s family life?

What are the similarities and differences between blended and adoptive families?

A couple with no children (of any age) present is known as a childless family. Childless couples can be childless for a number of reasons. It may be a temporary stage prior to beginning a family, the children may have left the family home or there may have been the death of a child. In other cases, some couples have made a conscious choice regarding children: they understand the economic and emotional demands of parenting and consequently have little desire to be parents themselves.

How has technology assisted childless couples to have children?

A communal family is a group of families, or individuals either related or unrelated, living and sharing resources together. Resources that are shared include food, child-rearing, social life, living space, decision- making and usually political or religious ideology.

What could be an example for a communal family?

What could be some challenges facing Communal Families?

A de-facto family is where a couple of the opposite or same sex live together in the same household but are not married to each other; they are partners, common-law husband and wife, lovers, boyfriends or girlfriends. This family structure is becoming more prevalent as the trend to live together prior to marriage increases, and seems a popular option for those under 35 years old who are choosing to marry later in life. 

An extended family is described as at least one core family plus at least one relative living in the same house. The relative may include, for example a grandparent, aunt, uncle or cousin who is not part of another core family within the same house. Different cultures have a different view on extended families - Some will live under the one roof while others are in a different arrangement.

Why would people choose to live with in an extended family?

The NSW Department of Family and Community Services describes foster care as ‘when children and young people, through no fault of their own, cannot live with their own parents or families. Foster carers can provide short or long-term care’. Therefore, it can be said that a foster family results when non-biological children, needing care, are placed with another individual or family (regardless of structure) for an unspecified length of time. It is the responsibility of this family to provide a safe, nurturing and stable environment for the foster child. However, foster parents have no legal rights in regards to making decisions for the children; for example, in the areas of health and education.

At 30 June 2020, of the approximately 30,600 children in long-term (2 years or more) out-of-home care, 82% were on long-term guardianship orders and in either relative/kinship care (11,200) or foster care (11,300). Of the children in long-term out-of-home care, 2 in 5 (42%) were Indigenous.

Child protection Australia 2019–20, Summary - Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (aihw.gov.au) 

A nuclear family can be viewed as a heterosexual couple and their offspring. While nuclear families are traditionally the norm and are still the most common family structure, it is the family structure type that statistically has the lowest growth rate. 

Why may the number of nuclear families be declining?

A same-sex couple can be defined as two people of the same-sex in a sexual relationship, living either with or without children. For those same-sex couples with children, lesbian couples are more likely to have children than are gay male couples. Many children of same-sex couples are conceived in previous heterosexual relationships. Male couples may also consider using a surrogate.

What are the trends for Same-Sex couple families over time?

According to the 2016 Census, there were 46,770 same-sex couples in Australia, representing a rise of 39% since 2011 and 83% since 2006. Same-sex couples accounted for 0.9% of all couple households in 2016, compared with 0.6% in 2006 and 0.3% in 1996. 

Suggest reasons why Same-Sex couple families have increased over time?

A sole-parent family consists of a lone parent with at least one dependent or non-dependent child (regardless of age) living in the household. Reasons why a family becomes a sole-parent family include divorce, separation, death of a partner or the use of artificial reproductive technologies 

Australian Aboriginal kinship care is ‘provided by a person who is a relative, considered to be family or a close friend or is a member of the child or young person’s community’ (Department of Communities, Child Safety and Disability Services, 2013). The term kinship is often used to describe the system of living among Indigenous Australians. Their kinship systems are complex. Their composition will usually be large and ever changing, meaning adults and children will often move between households. 

Compare and contrast TWO different family structures (6 marks) 

Most couples now live together before getting married. This has increased greatly since the mid-1970s. In 1975, only 16% of marriages were preceded by cohabitation. By 2017, 81% of couples had been living together before getting married. 

Your Turn:

Extension Questions

1. Why it is difficult to define family in today’s contemporary society?

2. Propose reasons for the increased acceptance of different family types within today's society.

3. How many adoptions were there in 2012-13? What is the most common form?

4. What are the similarities and differences between blended and adoptive families?

5. What are some challenges facing communal families?

6. Why would people choose to live with in an extended family?

7. Why may the number of nuclear families be declining?

8. How has Modern Family, changed the perception of same-sex couples?