Non-Traditional Family Structures

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The degeneration of a family structure in today’s society has resulted in a major shift in the views of family, love, marriage, and other things that play an important role regarding this topic of discussion. Even though the there are still “Traditional” American family structures being built, the ideas and practices of “Non- Traditional” family structures are constantly overriding. This drastic change has caused a numerous amount of parenting styles to take place. Today, there are six different parenting styles that consists of a family structure. To introduce them by name, there are: single parenting, same-sex parenting, grand-parenting, adoptive parenting, foster parenting, and co-parenting.

Single parenting within a family structure consists of single, never married parents raising a child. This involves one, biological parent, male or female, taking full custody and responsibility of the offspring without any help from the other biological parent. Another type of parenting that is very similar to the single parenting style of a family structure is, …show more content…

In adoptive parenting, the parents are allowed to adopt a child as early as infancy. The adoptive parents may be family members to the child or, just families with great stability. In both, adoptive and foster parenting, the child may have been removed from their biological parent(s) because of abuse and, or, neglect. These children spend many years in foster care without permanent homes but, the child is usually released from foster care once he/she has reached a certain age. Usually, between the ages of eighteen and twenty- one is when the child may be released. The major difference between adoptive and foster parenting is, in the family of foster parents, the child is entered into a child welfare system and often placed in a foster home before they are released, and/or