ABSTRACT
The meaning and experience of family have been transformed over the past half century by increased divorce, separation, and repartnering. Yet in constructs and terms used to characterize family, research and policy worlds cling to the idea of a stable uniform building block—the single-household nuclear family—as the underlying model defining family. This oversimplified image tends to limit awareness of newer forms of family, at times orchestrating scores out of tune with today's children, parents, and family life.
