Welcome to FamilyTrends

 

Families come in many varieties. They can be single parents raising children, alone or with friends, with partners or with relatives. They can be gay or lesbian partners, a grandmother raising a grandchild, adults of all ages with or without children, or a group of friends living together. By choice or by chance, families are the bonds we all form.

FamilyTrends considers these and other types of families. Using research literature, FamilyTrends discusses the prevalence, strengths, and challenges of different kinds of families, and identifies characteristics common to certain famity forms. Because to really understand the needs of families--to shape policy and inform practice--we must begin by understanding families themselves.

FamilyTrends is produced by the Jordan Institute for Families at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill School of Social Work.