In this week’s Discussion, you focused on how a specific barrier or set of barriers might affect a family system. Now, you turn to a more holistic view of a family system. Consider your experience both within your own family of origin and when interacting with other families. What is different between these examples of families?
In the field of social work, it is imperative that you know how to assess families. When trying to identify what is happening within a family, a social worker must learn about the family’s structure, identify their strengths, review their communication style, and understand the family’s dynamics. Families are influenced by the unique individuals within the family, as well as by the larger cultural context in which the family exists. Families vary in how they define who is a member of the family unit, what role each family should play, and what the family dynamics are based on an individual member’s contributions to the family system. Often, the social worker’s role is to help identify trouble spots and help the family re-adjust to healthy system dynamics.
Consider a family system in a holistic manner. You can use the same family system as in the Discussion. However, in the Discussion you focused on a specific set of challenges. In this Assignment, think about all other aspects of the family system.
By Day 7
Submit a 2- to 3-page paper in which you further analyze a family system. Support your analysis by using the Kirst-Ashman and Hull text to do the following:
Describe the structure of a family.
Identify the strengths in the family.
Explain where in the life cycle this family is located and how that may influence family dynamics.
Describe the specific roles of two family members, and explain if the various roles work well together for the benefit of this family.
Explain how understanding the family’s challenges will help a social worker working with this family.
Analyze this family using systems theory or the ecological perspective.
Support your paper with examples from the Kirst-Ashman and Hull text, in addition to other resources used to complete this Assignment. You are expected to demonstrate your understanding and ability to apply concepts from the course by paraphrasing resources and providing specific examples of how a concept is evident in the family system you identified for this paper.