Family And Family Development Stages

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Introduction Families today are noticeably different than what they were 20+ years ago. The tradition of mothers staying home and raising the children while fathers’ financially supporting the family is not only something of the past, but could almost be seen as abnormal in today’s world. The family unit has become something that one cannot easily fit into a certain category due to the ever changing faces of it and the constantly changing social norms. Adults are becoming parents later in life, working mothers, stay at home fathers, same- sex couples, elderly family members living with family members and older children staying at home longer are a few examples of how todays families differ from the “traditional family.” Congress in (Coady & Congress (2008) refers to the idea that families also go through certain developmental stages in their life span similar to the individual development theory. In this theory there are 6 stages that range from the unattached young adult, the adolescent or young adult when they are first leaving the family home to the family in later life when the parents are entering retirement age. Understanding the different stages a family moves through at different times in its life will ensure the social worker is able to provide the most appropriate support for the family at that time. The support delivered to a family with young children would be quite different to the support given to a family with adolescents. Although the family as a unit travels through the stages together as a unit, it is important for a social worker to remember while planning support that even though the family may be at a specific stage, each family member may be at quite different individual stages. (Congress in (Coady & Lehmann, 2008) For example two parents of the same age may be at two different stages individually and therefore their needs may be quite different, even though they are at a certain developmental stage together as a family. It is important to consider where the family sits in the developmental stages when developing a care plan for the family, so that the social worker has an understanding of what is happening within the family at that time and their needs can be appropriately

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