Welcoming New Family Forms: Implications for American Jewish Life

Publication Date: January 1994

Publisher: Jewish Communal Service Association of North America

Author(s): Lucy Y. Steinitz

Research Area: Social conditions

Keywords: Social Services; Family; Outreach

Type: Report

Coverage: United States

Abstract:

The results of current societal changes will be even more variegated family forms than exist today and the replacement of the expectation of permanence with the expectation that each individual, as he or she goes from one stage of life to the next, will move from one family form to another. Therefore, the focus on one preferred family structure is misguided; it ignores the way in which most Jews live today, it implicitly rejects those living in alternative family forms, and it concentrates on structure to the exclusion of family dynamics—what goes on in each individual family. As family units become more variegated, it is increasingly important for the organized Jewish community to extend its family support role.