My Family Background Analysis

I was born in Northern, New York, about forty miles from the Canadian border in a wasteland of a town called Carthage, sixty miles from the nearest walmart. My mother, now Louise Percy, is ex-navy and worked for the federal government on Fort Drum until she retired ever since I was born. My father, Donald Bishop, was a beauty. He was in and out of prison all his life, including juvenile. He was imprisoned much through my baby-toddler stage and when he wasn’t imprisoned he jumped from construction job to construction job, drinking and smoking marijuana heavily until the day he died, last May 28th. I was born into a household with my mother, father, brother and half-sister for the first few years in my life. My half-sister skipped town after developing a heroin addiction and my father drove my mother psychologically insane until she ended up in a psych ward and we spent a few weeks with my grandmother (father’s mom) until she was released. My mother and father split up and my father never fought for custody nor paid child support. My mother had been a single mom for ten years

I met Wendy in January of 2014. That year, my brother (who was 20 at the time), was due to “age out” of the foster care system. He was unprepared to lose the housing and assistance he relied on and I was unable to provide all he needed at that time. Upon hearing of our dilemma though a mutual acquaintance, the Lankford 's opened their home and their hearts to my brother and eventually welcomed him into their family through an informal adoption. Since being adopted, he has made remarkable positive strides in his emotional development, self efficacy, and outlook for his own future. The Lankford 's have given him the type of stable and nurturing home life, supportive role modeling, and loving family atmosphere that we as (future) educators hope all children and youths have available to them. Because of how she touched my brother’s life, Wendy was the first parent whom I thought to interview for this assignment. I was eager to learn


Please List any concerns you have about your child’s behavior. __________________________
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How does your child get along with peers? __________________________________________
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How does your child get along with siblings? ________________________________________
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List any current stressful events in the family or in the child’s life. _______________________
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DEVELOPMENT:
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As a foster child, I lacked a true role model for the beginning slice of my life. In my first six years the Department of Family and Children’s Services or DFACS had dragged my brother and I from foster home to foster home to orphanage to foster home. The idea that a family would care enough or love us enough to keep us was something that was hoped for with a deep heartfelt affliction as the children that we were. Then one day everything changed… a social worker from DFACS had came to the school my brother and I were going to.

When I was fourteen years old, some pre-pubescent insult of a highschool boy assured me that it was MY fault my parents put me up for adoption because I was a less than desirable human being. I took a second to gather my thoughts and calmly responded, “Well at least I was chosen. Your poor parents, having no other choice, are stuck with you.” Although these insults tore me apart from the inside out, making light of them was the only way I knew how to protect myself from vulnerability. I didn’t want anyone to know my story because the truth is, it wasn’t a pretty story. While other kids who were adopted waltzed around holding their pretty stories up as if they deserved the Pulitzer Prize for them, I tucked mine away deep into the crevices of my being.

I lost my mother to breast cancer at the age of 14. My Father lived out of state at the time and returned to Colorado shortly after. My sister and I lived with my Aunt and Uncle after her passing. My sister was only 5 years old at the time. My expectation was to naturally go and live with my Father. When this did not happen and I had no explanation as to why and I reacted as any other teenager would. I rebelled with the strength of a thousand teenagers. I justified my every action with the idea that I should be with my Father and this is worth fighting for. I spent years running away and being caught at school. I had always wanted to finish school but didn’t want to be away from my Father. Finally after exhausting the justice system and my Aunt and Uncle. I was allowed to live with my Father at the cost of being separated from my sister. In about 6 short months I found out the hard way why I was kept from my Father. My father was a heroin addict. He disappeared for several weeks at a time. At one point our rent was due and I had to figure out how to pay. I requested time off from school and explained my situation in hopes

My paper talks about the five general sociology concepts that I learned to using my family. I picked my family because I think they were the most relatable and easy group that would be more beneficial and knowledgeable to discuss regarding the concepts. My family consist of a father, mother, two boys, and a girl, not including me. My parents speak three languages and my siblings only speak one due to the language influence while they were in school. Culture is very important to my family not only the language, and attire but the values of what the culture teaches. Such as, the man being the head of the household and everything must run through him. The woman is taught to cook, clean and take care of the things inside the household. The kids

"They may not have my eyes, they may not have my smile, but they have all my heart" (Chris McKinney). May 28, 1996 was the day the doctors labeled me as a “crack baby”. Six weeks in the hospital I was later placed in a foster care. For eight years, I lived in a homes of total strangers. Lack of motivation, depression, and confusion, have all been things children like me have faced. Every adoption has its own story and one thing I learned is it's a grand adventure. Adoption has a positive effect on society because it becomes a possible solution to abortion, gives children and teens a chance to have a good life, and allows couples who can not have kids to finally become parents.

One of the most rewarding hobbies that a person can engage in is the search for his or her personal family history. Family history search or genealogy now becomes an easy task utilizing the internet and different databases worldwide. Unlike some hobbies which people get hooked into, family search is fascinating and fulfilling. It is always interesting to know more of your own family.

I interviewed my friend, Elena. We started out just talking and slowly got into the interview. I tried to make it feel like a conversation, however, some of the terms I had to ask to get a specific answer and example. Elena is unmarried; she is a student at Auburn University. When at home, she lives with her mother, father, older brother, and herself. She is 20 years old, never married, and is a sophomore in college. Her parents, Johnny and Susan, have been married for 28 years, and her older brother Will is 26. He is not married, and he is also a student at Auburn. They live in the same apartment here in Auburn. Both of her maternal grandparents have passed away, and her paternal grandmother is the only grandparent left. All of her cousins, aunts, and uncles are still alive. She was much more willing to talk about her parental side of her family, but I think it was due to the fact she knows more about them.

Education has been a big part of my life and I always knew I would be going to college, not only for jobs, but also to grow and learn new things. There are many reasons I am applying to UCF. One reason is I want to be a part of a large and diverse school. My education has always been within a Christian education system, where almost everyone shares the same ideals and opinions. I am interested in meeting new people and learning other people's beliefs and seeing life through another perspective. UCF also provides many extracurricular activities that would make it more available to try new and exciting things. I am also applying to UCF because it is the school I have been wanting to go to since I was a child. I have lived near the Orlando

My family has undergone adverse circumstances, which has resulted in intergenerational trauma. My sister had three children who were removed from her care and placed for closed adoption, as a result of her ongoing mental health challenges. When my first nephew was born, I re-experienced significant traumatic childhood events; he was placed into protective care. I was not aware of the apprehension plan. As someone who was invested in this child’s life, I stepped up to be a significant family member. At the time I was the only family member able to have visitation with him, thus stepping into a maternal role. His birth and eventual adoption was a turning point in my life. It forced me into a position where I had to become completely estranged from my biological family. At that moment, I decided I needed to be a part of changing the social injustices I experienced and witnessed through obtaining a bachelor of social work.

This event affected my whole entire family because my grandmother was they glue that held us together, but if I had to choose who I thought this event affected the most beside myself, I would have to say that it was my mother Charlotte who is an African American Female and a heterosexual and was 43 at the time. She was in stage seven if Erickson theory the generativity vs. Stagnation when the death of my grandmother happened. I picked her because my grandmother worried about my mother the most she always was quiet and keep to herself, especially because during this time my parents when having a rough time in their marriage and it was not looking too good. My aunt Vivian, who is an African American Female and a heterosexual was 49 at the time of my grandmother passing was on the same stage as my mother. But I choose my Aunt Vivian because lived with my grandmother.

A family is a group of people associated by blood relationships or affinity living in a similar living arrangement. (Brinkerhoff, White, Ortega, & Weitz. 2008) A family is considered one of the most important and universal social institutions because it is the first known human social system that has its characteristics and functions that affect the community, but what creates a family may differ from a culture to another.

Individuals are shaped by their experiences throughout life. Some have more incredibly positive experiences, such as winning the lottery multiple times. While others have more negative experiences, like continued death in a family. I have had to face and overcome being abandoned by both of my biological parents. As a younger child, this had a great effect on me, but now as I am preparing to enter the real world, I am not phased; I realized the reason was nothing to do with me, it was not my fault.