Guidelines for Family Genogram
The purpose of this assignment is to apply course-related concepts to real life situations, and to better understand your own family dynamics, and potentially, that of the people you will be working with as a human service professional. This assignment is worth 50 points.
Your genogram consists of two parts:
(1) Physical graphic depiction of your family (25 points)
a. You can do this on a regular 8 X 11 sheet of paper, highlighters, construction paper, markers, etc. You do not need to buy a large presentation board, any special computer program, or any fancy materials.
(2) Written portion (25 points)
Graphic Depiction:
· Members of at least three generations (if you have children, you may choose to include four generations).
· Members gender, age, generational position, and ethnic/religious background.
· Significant events: year of marriage, separation, divorce, death.
As you draw your Family Genogram, expect to make a few tries on smaller sheets of paper before you draw it on a large piece of paper. You may want to use different colors to make distinctions between generation or blood lines. Feel free to do this in any way that helps you see your family more clearly. As you will discover, Genogram allows to succinctly display a lot of information. And, most importantly, you will gain a whole new sense of your family.
Written Portion: (2 pages total) should not include the story of your life, how mom and dad met, or describe family history and traditions. Simply and succinctly answer the following questions only:
· Describe the characteristics of each generation based on the Family Life Course perspective:
· Identify and name the stage of the Family Life Course (or a transition between stages) each generation of your family is in at the moment (5 points)
· Specify basic developmental tasks that each member/generation of your family has to accomplish/ is in the process of accomplishing (10 points)
· What are the advantages and disadvantages of using Family Development theory and Family Genogram to viewing and understanding family life: (5 points)
· Have you learned anything new about your family? How was your perception of your family changed in the process of working on this exercise? This is where you should point out how your family compares research findings we have discussed in class (family size, age of stage transitions, etc.) (5 points)
