Family as a Unit of Care PDF

**Family as a unit of Care** What is a *family*? - A basic unity of society - The members of a household who are related to a specific degree through **[blood adoption]** and **[marriages]** whether dwelling together or not - Two or more individuals who **[depend one another]** for...

**Family as a unit of Care** What is a *family*? - A basic unity of society - The members of a household who are related to a specific degree through **[blood adoption]** and **[marriages]** whether dwelling together or not - Two or more individuals who **[depend one another]** for emotional, physical, and financial support. The members are well-defined. - Group of persons who form a household under one head, including parents, children, and **[servants]**. - Our families are where we experience our biggest triumphs and our deepest vulnerabilities. - It is where we connect ourselves in relationships to past, future, and current generations. Why is family important? - Imagine a newborn baby, small and beautiful but unable to eat, stay warm, find protection or even move from place to place on his/her own. - God sends each of us to earth helpless. It is given that we are given a family to depend on from the beginning. - By design we are given a family to provide for us and prepare us for the challenges that we will face in the years ahead. - It is at home that we learn to walk and talk and share expressions of love. It is where we develop our values that will shape our adult lives. - It is at home where we learn the habit, religious obligations. Family Structure - Refers to the characteristics and demographics (number, age, sex) of individual members who make up family units - It specifically defines the roles and positions of family members Types of Family - **Nuclear** -- Composed of father, mother, children - **Extended** - Composed of father, mother, children, and other relatives (grandmom, grandad, etc.) - **Dual-Career Family --** Both parents are working to support the family - **Commuter** -- Both partners work but their jobs are in different places (OFWs...) - **Adolescent Family** -- A partner or both partners are underage - **Single Parent** -- Sole parent is left to take care of the children due to separation/migration - **Foster Families --** are people other than a kid's parents -- provides a safe place for kids to be cared for. They take kids into their homes and care for them for a while. - **Blended --** Both members of the couple may have had pre-existing children, or the couple may have had additional children together. - **Cohabitating Family** -- Persons living in the same roof outside the context of marriage (Dormitory or Live-in partnership) - **Gay-Lesbian Family --** Persons of the same sex live together. A gay and a Lesbia live together - **Single Adult Living Alone --** Person lives alone, [may have been wed or not ] - **Compound** -- One man with several spouses - **Nuclear-dyad** **Family** - Husband and wife are together without children or who have grown children living outside of their home. - **Kin-network** -- Several nuclear families live in the same household and share goods and services **According to decision making** - **Patriarchal** -- Full authority on the male member - **Matriarchal** -- Full authority on the female member - **Egalitarian** -- Husband and wife take both opinions into account when making a decision - **Democratic** -- Everyone's opinions are taken into account - **Autocratic** -- A parenting style characterized by [high demands] and [low responsiveness]. Parents with this style have very high expectations of their children yet provide very little in the way of feedback and nurturing. - **Laissez-Faire** -- A permissive style which parents avoid providing guidance and discipline, make no demands for maturity, and impose few controls on their child's behavior. - **Matricentric** -- The mother decides to be in charge in absence of the father - **Patricentric** -- The father decides to be in charge in absence of the mother II.Functions of a Family - Biological\ - has something to do with reproduction and child bearing\ - protects the health of family members - Psychological\ - emotional security of its members\ - ability to make relationships outside the family - Economic\ - buron - Socio-cultural\ - the transfer of values relating to behavior, traditions, language, and more - Educational\ - inculcation of skills, knowledge, and attitudes relating to other functions III\. Family Process - The ongoing interaction between family members through which they accomplish their instrumental and expressive tasks **Family Roles** - Repetitive patterns of behavior by which family members fulfill family functions.\ ***Role Allocation --*** concerned with family's pattern in assigning roles\ ***Role accountability*** -- making sure that functions are fulfilled\ ***Role*** **enactment** -- concerns that which a person actually does in particular role position\ - Formal Roles\ - Achieved roles\ - Informal Roles -- Harmonizer, Coordinator, Blocker, Go-between, Stage 1 -- marriage & the family... Stage 2 -- Early Marriage Child Bearing Family - Birth or adoption of a first child which requires economic and social role changes - Oldest child 2-1/2 years - Immunizations of children Stage 3 -- Family with preschool children - Where mothers stop working - A busy family because children at this stage deman d a great deal of time related to growth and development needs and safety considerations - Oldest child 2.5 to 6 years old Stage 4 -- Family with School age children - Parents at this age have important responsibility of preparing their children to be able to function in a complex world while at the same time maintaining their own satisfying marriage relationship - Oldest child 6-12 years old Stage 5 -- Family with adolescent children - A family allows the adolescents more freedom and prepare them for their own life as technology advances gap between generations increases - Oldest child 12-20 years old - Vices (peer pressure) Stage 6 -- The launching center family - Stage when children leave to set their own household appears to represent the breaking of the family - Empty nests Stage 7 -- Family of middle years - Family returns to two partners nuclear unit - Period from empty nest to retirement Stage 8 -- family in retirement age Stage 9 -- Period from retirement to death of both spouses