4 Match the three columns to form definitions of the different types of family.
| Type of Family | Parents | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Married nuclear family | parents | and children may be adopted or conceived thanks to assisted reproductive techniques. |
| Commuter family | father and mother | look after the child/ren. |
| Blended family | parents are of the same sex | heads the family. |
| Grandparent-led family | only one parent | gave birth to or adopted the child/children. |
| Gay/lesbian family | parents come from divorce and remarriage | live together but are not married. |
| Foster and group-home family | grandfather and/or grandmother | and children with different biological parents may live together. |
| Single-parent family | father and mother | do not always live together because one of them works abroad or far away. |
| Cohabiting family | father and mother | are replaced by adults who are not biologically related to the child/ren, often for legal reasons. |
5 Match each of the situations (1-8) with the suitable type of family (a-h).
1. Lucy is nine, she lives with Don and Angie, her mother's parents.
2. Thomas is twelve, he lives with Anne, his mother.
3. Tracy and Josh live with Peter and John.
4. Jasmine's father lives in Morocco, she's in Italy with her mother.
5. Harry's parents are in prison and he lives with the Robinsons, who have three kids.
6. Kathy and George have been living together for ten years. They have two children: William and Annabel.
7. Ann's mother divorced and then met another man, Todd. They got married two years ago. Ann lives with them.
8. Tina and Brad got married three years ago. They have got a daughter, Lily.
- a. Married nuclear families
- b. Families in which the adult or adults are lesbian or gay
- c. Commuter families
- d. Blended families and stepfamilies
- e. Grandparent-led families
- f. Single-parent families
- g. Cohabiting families
- h. Foster and group-home families
Family-friendly policies in OECD and EU countries
Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Estonia, and Portugal offer the best family-friendly policies among 31 rich countries with available data, according to a new UNICEF report. Switzerland, Greece, Cyprus, United Kingdom, and Ireland rank the lowest.
Produced by UNICEF’s Office of Research, the report ranks countries across the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and European Union (EU) based on their national family-friendly policies. These policies include the duration of parental leave at full pay equivalent and childcare services for children aged between 0-6 years old.
UNICEF – New York, 2019
GLOSSARY
blended: mista
childcare worker: educatore infantile
court: tribunale
foster: affidatario
group-home family: casa famiglia
referred: assegnata
stepfamily: famiglia acquisita