Types of Families

    There are many places to gather information on family and the different forms that it exists in. One such source was the U.S. Census Bureau. Based on information from the Census Bureau, specifically population reports from 1998 states there were 70.9 million family households in the United States. Single parents maintained 27.3 percent of the family households with own children under 18. There were 2.1 million father-child and 9.8 million mother-child family groups-related and unrelated subfamilies as well as family households. In the mother-child family groups, 42.2 percent of mothers had never been married.2

        Most of the time when a person thinks of the definition of a family, the image of a father, mother and children is what comes into the mind. That is actually the definition of a nuclear family, which is parents, and one or more children. However, there are six more definitions that can be used to define a family:

Single-Parent Family is one parent and a child or children. Extended Family is when a nuclear family or single-parent family lives with any extended family.

Blended Family is a nuclear family in which one or both of the parents have had a previous marriage, and possible children from that marriage. (Ex: The Brady Bunch)

Adoptive Family may be a nuclear, single-parent or blended. The child is not blood related to the parent, but has been adopted legally.

Foster Family can be nuclear, single-parent or blended. One or more of the children are not birth children. The child may stay with the family for an extended period of time through special government agencies.3

    There are three more definitions that need to be mentioned because they are directly related to the possible options of parenthood for homosexual couples.  Rukmalie Jayakody who is a professor at Penn State University in the Health and Human Development College provided these three definitions. She teaches a Human Development and Family Studies class.

    1. The first definition was again provided by the U.S. Census Bureau, which states a 
        family is two or more persons, living in the same household, and related by blood      
        marriage and adoption.

    2. The second definition is public families are one adult or two adults related by 
        marriage, partnership, or shared parenthood, who is/are taking care of dependents,  
        and the dependents themselves.

    3. The third definition is private family which is two or more individuals who maintain an 
        intimate relationship that they expect will last indefinitely or, in the case of parent 
        and child, until the child reaches adulthood; and who live in the same household and 
        pool their income and household labor.4

    These three definitions are particularly important because they show the change in society’s views of family, which would acknowledge homosexual couples wanting to raise children.
 
 

Trends in the Family

        Since the end of World War 2, the American family has changed dramatically from the ideal “nuclear” family to alternative forms such as single-parent households, stepparent households and blended households.1 These changes have resulted in awareness to the alternative forms more so than the nuclear family.  The Industrial Revolution created the need for a family to provide intimacy and emotional support from the economic necessity and need to procreate that it once was.1  Now when people contemplate marriage it is to fulfill a romantic need for a partner or to fulfill a need within himself or herself. The family has become a haven for individual improvement instead of a place to raise children in a loving environment.5

     The likelihood of children growing up in an environment where a divorce has occurred is common because of many growing factors. The concept of commitment has been replaced with staying together as long as each person has his or her needs met. This breaks down the family because the obligation is no longer to the children but to the individual’s needs.5

      These changes that have been occurring are helping to make it more accepting of homosexual couples to adopt and have their own children. It is important that the alternative forms of family not be considered as negative but in a positive connotation. The family, which was once the focal point of work force, has been replaced again with the role of achieving each individual’s personal needs. With homosexual couples, their desires are to strictly raise children with every best opportunity.3
 

     The changing face of the family has resulted in many different forms from what it once was particularly known as, the “nuclear family”. Single-parents, stepparents, blended and adoptive families are more common than the once alternative perception that was labeled with. The changing definitions have provided a more open interpretation of family that allows for homosexual couples to feel welcome when raising their own children. It is no longer as important who is raising children but that the children are being nurtured in a safe and stimulating environment for optimal development.