While a traditional family consists of a mom and dad, not all families have to.  The definition of a family is ‘people who share goals and values, have long-term commitments to one another, and reside usually in the same dwelling place’.  This means that anyone, as long as they love and support each other, can be a family.  Sometimes it’s with two dads, two moms, an aunt and uncle, grandparents, or foster parents. 

Often, children live in alternate families because something happened to their real parents that prevented them from being able to take care of their kids. Sometimes they get sick and want healthy individuals to take care of their kids, or sometimes they pass away and leave their kids in the care of their godparents or other close friends or family members that they think will be good role models for the kids. If this is the case, usually the alternate family is better for the children than the traditional family would have been.

Sometimes kids are adopted into homes that have a different setup, but the adoption agency will make sure that it is a good place for the child to be raised. Many times parents get divorced and kids live with their mom or dad, but not both. For example, a mother will take her son and go live with her sister. The family would be made up of those three individuals. 

There are lots of ways in which a kid can come into an alternate family, but the point is these families can be just as loving and nurturing as a traditional family. These families are full of love, support, and care and are often in the best interest of the children who live in them. 

Family can mean relatives, a household and those who reside in the home. It doesn’t necessarily mean that you have a mother and a father. Society is used to thinking of children in a single parent household as having a family. So, too are those who live with blood relatives and gay or lesbian parents.