ABSTRACT
As family therapy has developed, increasing attention has been paid to the wider social context in which families live. A significant aspect of that wider context is the larger systems with which all families must interact. Such larger systems generally include work systems, schools, religious institutions, and health-care systems, and for some families may include public welfare, child welfare, foster care, courts, mental health clinics, and systems designed for special populations, such as agencies mandated to provide services to the mentally or physically handicapped or the aged.
