Involvement With Nontraditional Parents And Families Of Children With Exceptionalities

Involvement with Nontraditional Parents and Families of Children with Exceptionalities
Every family is governed by different rules, values, and norms designed to protect and continue the family
unit. Rules and norms come from family history, personalities, expectations, and values. Children entering
a family impact both the family and child. The child must determine how to fit into this environment and
the parents must make time, financial, and priority changes.

The traditional family stages (marriage, birth of a first child, leaving home by the last child) are happening
less often. Families are in transition - divorce, blended families, single parent, unmarried parents, foster
parent, grandparents, and same-gender parents now may be raising the child.

Three types of involvement are looked at in this chapter: Separation and Divorce, Blended Families, and
Other Nontraditional Families with their impact on the child and the parents.

Separation and Divorce
The impact on children is often sadness, denial, and fear. The parental relationships have changed. Anger
may show toward one or both parents. Male children are more apt to become aggressive, impulsive, and
antisocial.

The impact on parents stems from the fact that most mothers become the child’s custodial parent. Financial
problems surface (mothers make half the income of fathers, many families exist below the poverty level
because marketable work skills are missing or outdated. Discipline problems routinely occ...

Involvement With Nontraditional Parents And Families Of Children With Exceptionalities

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