14 Examples
Family Structure Genogram Examples
Understand how to diagram diverse family configurations including blended families, single-parent households, adoptive and foster placements, multigenerational households, and complex divorce-remarriage patterns. These structural genograms are foundational for social workers, family therapists, and students learning standard genogram notation.
Blended Step-Family Genogram
A complex blended step-family genogram showing two divorced parents who remarried each other, each bringing children from prior marriages. Includes one child born together, illustrating step-sibling and half-sibling dynamics, mixed emotional relationships, and the challenges of forming a cohesive blended family unit.
Single Parent Family Genogram
A genogram depicting a single mother raising three children after her husband\'s unexpected death. Highlights the grandmother\'s critical support role, the eldest child\'s parentification, and the family\'s resilience in the face of grief, financial stress, and role reorganization.
Three-Generation Household
A multigenerational Chinese-American family genogram illustrating three generations living under one roof. Explores intergenerational dynamics, cultural values of filial piety and family togetherness, immigration experiences, and the tension between traditional Chinese values and American individualism.
Adoptive Family Genogram
An adoptive family genogram featuring both biological and adopted children. Includes one child adopted internationally from China, one adopted domestically through an open adoption with birth mother contact, and one biological child. Illustrates birth parent connections, adoption adjustment, and the dynamics of mixed-origin families.
Foster Care Family System
A foster care family system genogram showing experienced foster parents with two biological children and three foster children from different backgrounds. Illustrates the biological families of foster children, reasons for removal including substance abuse and neglect, and the supportive bonds formed within the foster family.
Same-Sex Parents Family Genogram
A same-sex parents family genogram featuring two married mothers raising children conceived through IVF with a known sperm donor and through adoption. Illustrates both maternal grandparent families, the role of the known donor, varied acceptance levels from extended family, and the unique dynamics of LGBTQ+ family formation.
Multi-Divorce Blended Family
A multi-divorce blended family genogram featuring a father married three times with children from each marriage. Illustrates complex custody arrangements, half-sibling and step-sibling relationships, conflict between ex-wives, and the challenges children face navigating multiple households and loyalty conflicts.
Grandparents Raising Grandchildren
A kinship care genogram showing grandparents who have legal custody of three grandchildren due to their daughter\'s substance abuse and son-in-law\'s incarceration. Illustrates the challenges of grandparent-headed households, estranged parent-child relationships, the impact of addiction on family systems, and the resilience of kinship caregivers.
Only Child Family Pattern
A three-generation genogram illustrating a recurring pattern of only children. Grandmother was an only child, mother was an only child, and the index patient is an only child. Explores the concentration of family resources and expectations on a single heir, overinvolved parenting patterns, fused relationships, and the isolation that can accompany being the sole focus of multiple generations.
Large Extended Family (8+ Children)
A traditional large Catholic family genogram featuring grandparents who had eight children in a farming community. Shows the first three children\'s families in detail, illustrating varied life outcomes across siblings — from a priest to a farmer to a nurse — along with the dynamics of a large extended family, shared responsibilities, and multigenerational bonds.
Polyamorous Family Genogram
A polyamorous family genogram depicting a consensual non-monogamous triad — two women and one man in a committed polycule — raising children together. This genogram explores the complex relational dynamics, legal considerations, and emotional bonds in ethical non-monogamy. It illustrates how polyamorous families negotiate parenting roles, extended family acceptance, and social stigma. The triad shares a home, co-parents three children (two biological, one adopted), and maintains distinct but interconnected relationships with each partner's family of origin. This example is increasingly relevant in family therapy as more clients present with non-traditional relationship structures.
Chosen Family Genogram
A chosen family (or 'found family') genogram depicting a queer person's support network that functions as family. This genogram illustrates both the biological family of origin — marked by rejection and estrangement — and the intentional family built through deep friendships, mentorship, and community bonds. Chosen families are especially important in LGBTQ+ communities where individuals may face rejection from biological relatives. This example shows Marcus, a 34-year-old gay man whose parents cut contact when he came out at 19, and the network of friends, mentors, and community members who became his functional family. The genogram maps both biological and chosen bonds, demonstrating how therapists can document non-traditional support systems.
Co-Parenting Non-Romantic Family Genogram
A co-parenting family genogram depicting non-romantic parenting arrangements including surrogacy, sperm donation, and intentional co-parenting between friends. This genogram illustrates the increasingly common phenomenon of people who choose to raise children together without being in a romantic relationship. The central family features two best friends — one gay man and one straight woman — who decided to co-parent together, sharing custody 50/50 across two households. The genogram also includes the surrogate who carried their second child and the known sperm donor involved in another family branch. This example is valuable for therapists navigating the legal, emotional, and relational complexities of donor-conceived and intentionally co-parented families.
Transnational Family Genogram
A transnational family genogram depicting an immigrant family split across three countries — the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, and the United States. This genogram illustrates the common reality of families separated by economic migration, where parents work abroad while children are raised by grandparents in the home country. The Reyes family spans three generations: grandparents in the Philippines who raised the children, a mother who worked as a nurse in Saudi Arabia for a decade before emigrating to the US, and children who joined their mother years later. The genogram captures the emotional toll of prolonged separation, the complex grief of reunion, cultural identity conflicts in second-generation immigrants, and the resilience of transnational family bonds maintained through technology and remittances. Increasingly relevant in family therapy with immigrant populations.
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