Thursday, December 1, 2011

No Need for Family Trees

As I am heading out to the NAIS People of Color Conference to lead my Adoption Fusion workshop/dialogue, I check in one last time to my favorite adoption blogs. Yet again, I see a post about the dreaded "family tree" lesson.

Perhaps "dreaded" is a strong word. It's just that there are so ways to portray your family nowadays - why settle for a linear, one-dimensional model? Why not be more inclusive of how we define "family"?

Here is one alternative that I share in my workshops: the family wheel. It includes ALL kinds of families formed in ALL kinds of ways. And it puts the subject at the center - rather than out on a limb (so to speak). This is my personal wheel - and a static template, but the wheel could easily be drawn freehand to allow for more "slices of the pie". Enjoy!


3 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is a step in the right direction, but it's awfully heteronormative...

JennyBHammond said...

anonymous: Thanks for your comment. I agree! This wheel is typed - which makes it kinda static. Again, the wheel can be drawn blank, so that people can fill in their own relationships.

Anonymous said...

That's great, thanks for sharing!