Systems theory is a relatively new concept developed in the 20th century. Originally meant to apply understanding to physical systems today it is now being used to understand biological and social systems (Minuchin, 1985). Adopted by social workers in the 1970’s the system perspective remains influential and in particular when dealing with families. Family systems theory is broken into 3 domains. First, change in one component will effect all other components. Second, family systems are made of subsystems where each individual is a subsystem of the family and the family is a subsystem of the community and the community is a subsystem of the culture. How the different subsystems interact with one another are called boundaries. There are
