Family Focus articles are exclusive to NCFR members. 

The spring 2018 Family Focus includes articles that address the close, family-like relationships and commitments people build outside of biological or legal ties. How these relationships function among different populations, cultures, and situations is explored along with the interactions between them and biological or legal family members. Implications for families, practitioners, policymakers, and researchers are suggested. All of this helps us as family professionals really think about what “family” means.

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• Overview and Introduction — by Judith A. Myers-Walls, Ph.D., CFLE Emeritus, Professor Emerita, Human Development and Family Studies, Purdue University
• Fictive Kin and Families of Choice in the European Context — Marieke Voorpostel, Ph.D., Senior Researcher, Swiss Center for Expertise in the Social Sciences
• From Like to Is: Narratives of Fictive Kinship — Margaret K. Nelson, M.Phil., Ph.D., Hepburn Professor Emerita, Department of Sociology, Middlebury College
• Promoting Resiliency: Fictive Kin as a Protective Factor — Shawnice Johnson,  B.A., graduate student, College of Human Health and Performance
• Communicating and Triangulating Voluntary Kin — Dawn O. Braithwaite, Ph.D., Willa Cather Professor and Chair; Katie Storck, doctoral candidate, Department of Communication Studies, University of Nebraska–Lincoln; and Kathleen M. Galvin, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Communication, Northwestern University
• African American Fictive Kin: Historical and Contemporary Notions — Chalandra M. Bryant, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Human Development and Family Science, University of Georgia
• Queer Kinship: Family Networks Among Sexual and Gender Minorities — Jory M. Catalpa, M.A., research assistant, Department of Family Social Science, University of Minnesota–Twin Cities; and Jasmine M. Routon, M.A., doctoral student, Department of Human Development and Family Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• As the Number of Single People Grows, So Does the Significance of Families of Choice — Bella DePaulo, Ph.D., Academic Affiliate, Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara
• The Role and Impact of Fictive Kin Among Homeless Adults — John Machir, CFLE, Housing Director, Mason County Homeless Shelter/Simms Housing, Southwestern Community Action
• Extra-Extended Relatives: Making Family Among African Fourth Cousins — LaKisha T. David, MCP, doctoral student, Department of Human Development and Family Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

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Family Focus is part of NCFR Report, a copyrighted publication of the National Council on Family Relations (NCFR). No part of NCFR Report, including Family Focus articles, may be reproduced, disseminated, or distributed by any means without permission of NCFR.

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