Chosen families: widespread and important
Recent research on families made up of people who do not share blood or legal ties supports AtMP’s belief that society should recognize the importance of diverse relationships. Dawn Braithwaite at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln finds that “people who have voluntary family see them as different from close or best friends in that they are expected to be permanent relationships and to fulfill roles played by family members. … Most people find voluntary family important and a great source of understanding, companionship, and support.”
The research team suggested several directions for further study, and wrote a case study of communication styles in one such family. It’s fascinating stuff! Thanks to the Council on Contemporary Families for introducing us.
April 27th, 2011 at 6:44 pm
Voluntary family and the support and love it provides, is exactly why the novel concept of Para-kin has developed
With so many adults are living in unmarried monogamous and loving relationships with a partner, perhaps with or without children from a previous marriage, these folks are identified by an assortment of terms i.e. partner, domestic partner, significant other, spousal equivalent, better half, etc. but in reality, they fill the need of a spouse who has not walked down the proverbial aisle. They are all Para-spouses. “Para” meaning to support, be next to, on the side of, much like a para-legal or para-medic in the professional world.
Many times children are being raised by those two P-spouses but as we know, the term “step” can only arise upon re-marriage. So what are we to call those children in these blended families? Are they destined to be “my partner’s children?” Many people are beginning to use terms such as Para-mom (P-mom) or Para-dad (P-dad) as a way to identify the love, commitment and a relationship to their P-son or P-daughter.
A movement has begun to bring new terms into our language to reflect the changing aspects of family i.e. new terms for our “voluntary family” Information on this concept may be found in http://www.Para-kin.com along with several Internet articles. Take a look and see if these terms may help identify the members of your family.