Interview someone from a family considered a “diverse family form” (for example,
Interview someone from a family considered a “diverse family form” (for example, single parent,
child-free, same sex partners, immigrant, blended, multigenerational, grandparents as parents, and
other cultural variant families.) You may interview the entire family together, a subsystem of the
family or one member of the family. Please pick a family with notable differences from you own.
Your paper should include the following:
Descriiption of the “normal,” traditional, nuclear family and how this notion is promulgated.
Descriiption of what aspects make your focus family a “diverse family” and different also from
your own experience.
Descriiption of the ecological context of the family including supports and stressors, consider
local and national perceptions, laws, and customs that may oppress or privilege this family.
Family roles and organization, Family rules (formal and informal), Family communication
patterns and decision making.
Current family “issues” and how the family deals with stressful situations Family life cycle stage
and the role and status of elders in the family
A summary of family strengths and challenges from your perspective
Analysis described below
Write a 5-6 page paper addressing the above content. Briefly integrate background research
relevant to this type of family. How
is it different? What issues does the family face that are addressed in the literature? What issues
are unique to this family that do not appear in the research? You must have a minimum of five
peer-reviewed journal references.
Learning Objectives: This assignment is designed to: foster critical thinking about micro through
macro expectations of “family” and how these expectations differ; practice engaging with
diversity, using professional (rather than personal) values, articulating local to global junctures
where social and cultural structures systematically oppress or advance some; using research and
contextual understanding to inform practice assessments; and communicating professional
impressions in a clear, respectful, and strengths-based way