Social Work 3850 Monday
Family Assessment Outline
The text portion of the Family Assessment paper should be 7-9 pages. The recommended length for each section of the paper is provided below. A bullet format for the outline is recommended.
Definition of Family (1 page)
Provide a brief description of your family of origin.
How does the U.S. Census Bureau’s definition of family in Chapter 10 (p. 302) apply to your own personal understanding of family?
Are there relationships that may be overlooked in the government’s definition and in what way does that affect your own family?
Discrimination, Intersectionality and Privilege (1-2 pages)
Provide examples of how members of your family experienced and coped with discrimination, oppression, and/or privilege (based on race, ethnicity, immigration status, physical abilities, income, gender identity and sexual orientation).
Diversity and Challenges to Family Life (2 pages)
Use Chap. 10 sections on Diversity in Family life: Diversity in Family Structures and Economic Diversity (p. 316-334) and Challenges to Family Life (p. 334-340) to identify/describe at least two characteristics that apply to your family structure.
Risk and Protective Factors (1 page)
Identify and describe key risk factors and protective factors within your own family and their environment.
Key Concepts Related to Gender Roles, Transition Points, Stress and Coping Strategies (2 pages)
Describe gender roles in your family. Discuss whether traditional roles were ever challenged.
Identify/describe any transition points that were difficult for your family and what helped your family adjust.
Use the concepts of “normative stress”, “nonnormative stress”, and “stress pile up” to describe your family’s experience with stress.
Describe any coping strategies that contributed to family resiliency or individual resiliency.
Conclusion-How Your Family of Origin Shaped You (1 page)
Describe how your family experience shaped you and contributed to the person you are today.
Describe how your family experience impacted your biases.
Describe how your family experience impacted your resiliency.
Discuss what you need to help prepare you to work with clients who will have both similar and different experiences from you.
