Preface As an individual who will soon be entering the field of Social Work as a professional Social Worker, I understand how important it is to have explored and sought to understand my past and how the events and experiences of my life have impacted the person I am today. Due to the audience of my paper being a professor I trust to keep all the personnel information shared within this document confidential, I feel it important to share openly. I also want to preface this paper with the statement that I personally have received professional counseling, have attended and do attend support groups, I will continue to remain open to unveiling personal challenges and I will continue to be vigilant so as not to let my past influence my present
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Describe the basic structure of your family of origin (two parent, single parent, blended family, half-siblings, etc.). Included along with this written assignment is a poster board depicting my familial structure using a genogram. A genogram is a useful tool for family assessment in the field of social work when working with both the individual and a family. The genogram provides a multigenerational, chronological, visual depiction of the family structure, noting such things as communication and relationship patterns, births and deaths…just about anything that a family or individual wants to explore regarding their family may be included and represented with various symbols (Kirst-Ashman & Hull, 2015). A genogram allows the user to analyze aspects of the family such as hereditary patterns and psychological patterns etc. The following written material is included to clarify what is visually depicted within my …show more content…
I was adopted before I was born, November 26, 1964, in South Lake Tahoe, California, and therefore my family of origin journey began in family whose structure would be considered nuclear, with my adoptive parents Juanita and James Gaylord and their biological son, my older brother Alan (five years older than myself). Growing up Megan (three years younger than I) and Shane (a year younger than I) lived with us nearly year round, and until I was ten years old I thought that they were also my brother and sister (When I was ten years old my mother remarried and Megan and Shane had to go and live with their mother whom I found out years later had been my adoptive father’s (James) secretary at the time they were born and somehow my mother became their caretaker for all of those
Describe the basic structure of your family of origin (two parent, single parent, blended family, half-siblings, etc.). Included along with this written assignment is a poster board depicting my familial structure using a genogram. A genogram is a useful tool for family assessment in the field of social work when working with both the individual and a family. The genogram provides a multigenerational, chronological, visual depiction of the family structure, noting such things as communication and relationship patterns, births and deaths…just about anything that a family or individual wants to explore regarding their family may be included and represented with various symbols (Kirst-Ashman & Hull, 2015). A genogram allows the user to analyze aspects of the family such as hereditary patterns and psychological patterns etc. The following written material is included to clarify what is visually depicted within my …show more content…
I was adopted before I was born, November 26, 1964, in South Lake Tahoe, California, and therefore my family of origin journey began in family whose structure would be considered nuclear, with my adoptive parents Juanita and James Gaylord and their biological son, my older brother Alan (five years older than myself). Growing up Megan (three years younger than I) and Shane (a year younger than I) lived with us nearly year round, and until I was ten years old I thought that they were also my brother and sister (When I was ten years old my mother remarried and Megan and Shane had to go and live with their mother whom I found out years later had been my adoptive father’s (James) secretary at the time they were born and somehow my mother became their caretaker for all of those