1. Family Structure
The family is our refuge and springboard...our link to the past, our bridge to the future.
-Alex Haley, author

2. Create a definition for family

3. Types of Families There are four main kinds of family groups:
the nuclear family,
the extended family
the single-parent family
the blended family.

4. The Nuclear Family
A Nuclear family is a family group with two generations-a father and mother and at least one child-sharing the same household.

5. The Extended Family
An extended family is a family group that includes relatives other than parents and children within a single household.
Ex. A woman raises her two grandsons.
The term extended family sometimes refers to additional
relatives outside the household the cousins, aunts, uncles,grandparents and great-grandparents who don't live with a young person but who can be important sources of emotional support and guidance.

6. The Single-Parent Family
A single-parent family is a group that consists of one parent and one or more children sharing a household.
The parent in this type of family may be either a mother or father.
That parent may be raising children alone because he or she has never married or because he or she has been left alone after a divorce or death.
Single parenting puts demands on the parent. He or she has a great deal of responsibility, little free time, and no spouse with whom to share problems.

7. The Blended Family
A blended family is a family group that consists of a married couple and at least one child from a parent's previous relationship.

8. Joining families Legal guardian Adoption Foster
A person designated by a legal process to assume responsibility for raising a child.
Adoption
A legal process in which children enter a family they were not born in.
Adoption handout.
Foster
Foster parents care for foster children, giving them a home for various reasons.

9. Adoption

10. Public Domestic Adoption in Canada Public domestic adoption refers to any adoption arranged by a public or government agency such as the Children's Aid Society.

11. Adopting through a public agency is much more tightly controlled than going through a private agency.
As a prospective adoptive parent, you have fewer choices. The focus of public agencies is on the safety and welfare of the child. As a result, the priority is in finding the right set of parents for a child rather than the right child for a set of parents.

12. The Costs There are usually no costs involved in adopting through a public agency

13. Private Domestic Adoption in Canada
Private domestic adoption refers to any adoption within Canada that is not arranged by a public agency.
"Private" in this context doesn't mean that the adoption is done quietly or in secret.

14. Adoption What is adoption?
What is the difference between private adoption and adoption through an agency?