Grandparents Raising Grandchildren
A kinship care genogram showing grandparents who have legal custody of three grandchildren due to their daughter\'s substance abuse.
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About This Genogram
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.
How to Read This Genogram
A family structure genogram maps household composition and biological or legal relationships across at least three generations using a standardized set of structural lines. Solid horizontal lines between two symbols indicate a committed partnership or marriage; a single diagonal slash through that line marks a separation, and a double slash marks a divorce. Children descend from the couple line on vertical drops, and their birth order runs left to right. Dashed lines or dotted horizontal connectors indicate step, foster, or adoptive bonds, so that a reader can distinguish biological parentage from the household arrangement in which a child was actually raised.
Reading a family structure genogram begins at the top generation and moves downward, noting who forms each household at each generational level. The key questions are: Which children grew up together? Which adults held parenting roles, and were those roles biological, legal, or both? Where do the generational boundaries fall? Households that contain members from more than one biological line, or that skip a generation, stand out visually and prompt the clinician to ask how those arrangements shaped each member's experience of family. Structure alone does not explain behavior, but it establishes the relational architecture on which emotional patterns are later mapped.
Key Patterns in This Genogram
Family Structure
How this family structure is represented using standard genogram notation.
Relationship Patterns
Key relationship dynamics and emotional bonds within the family system.
Clinical Application
How professionals use this type of genogram in assessment and treatment.
Family Analysis
This 3-generation genogram maps 10 family members with birth years spanning from 1948 to 2017, comprising 6 males and 4 females. The genogram tracks 8 medical/psychological condition categories and 5 emotional relationship types across 8 documented dyads. The index patient is Tyler Nolan (b. 2010), high school student (age 16).
The family system encompasses 3 generations with distinct patterns at each level. The oldest generation includes Harold, Doris, Frank and 1 other, with 4 presenting documented conditions. The middle generation includes Brenda, Travis, Rick, with 2 presenting documented conditions. The youngest generation includes Tyler, Kaylee, Mason, with 3 presenting documented conditions.
Emotional relationship mapping reveals 3 close relationships, 1 fused/enmeshed relationship, 2 estranged relationships, 1 conflictual relationship, 1 distant relationship. Specific patterns include a close relationship between Harold and Tyler, a close relationship between Doris and Kaylee, a fused/enmeshed relationship between Doris and Mason. The co-occurrence of fused and conflictual relationships suggests a family system with poorly differentiated boundaries, where emotional intensity oscillates between enmeshment and discord.
Medical and psychological conditions are documented in 9 of 10 family members (90%). Depressive disorders appear in 3 members (Doris, Brenda, Diane). Substance appear in 3 members (Brenda, Travis, Frank), affecting 1 female and 2 males. Anxiety-spectrum conditions appear in 3 members (Brenda, Tyler, Kaylee), affecting 2 females and 1 male. Comorbidity is observed in 5 family members, with Harold presenting 2 concurrent condition categories. The multigenerational prevalence of depressive disorders suggests both genetic predisposition and possible environmental or behavioral transmission pathways.
This genogram illustrates how family structure shapes individual development and relational patterns. Professionals working with families of this structure can use the genogram to normalize diverse family configurations and identify both strengths and areas for growth in the family system.
Build a Similar Genogram
A practitioner documenting a family similar to this one would typically record three generations of household composition, significant life events such as births, deaths, marriages, and separations, any relevant medical or mental health history, and the quality of key relationships between members. That information comes from a combination of the client's verbal account, intake questionnaires, and, where available, collateral records. The completed diagram captures both the factual structure of the family and the practitioner's clinical observations about relational patterns, making it a reference that can be shared across disciplines or reviewed at future stages of treatment.
GenogramAI's AI genogram generator allows you to build a diagram like this one from a plain-language description of the family. You type or paste a narrative, such as the basic structure and any key relationships or health history you want to include, and the AI parses that text, places the correct symbols, draws the appropriate relationship lines, and arranges the layout automatically. The result is a fully editable diagram that you can refine, annotate, and export for clinical records or educational use. Try the AI genogram creator to generate your own genogram from a text description in seconds.
Genogram Symbols Used in This Example
The following standard genogram symbols appear in the Grandparents Raising Grandchildren. Each symbol follows McGoldrick and Gerson clinical notation conventions.
Person Symbols
- Male (Square)
- A square represents a male family member in standard genogram notation.
- Female (Circle)
- A circle represents a female family member in standard genogram notation.
Status Markers
- Index Patient (Arrow)
- An arrow pointing to a person identifies them as the index patient — the individual who is the focus of the clinical assessment.
Structural Relationships
- Marriage
- A solid horizontal line connecting two individuals represents a marriage or committed partnership.
- Divorce
- A marriage line with two diagonal slashes indicates divorce or legal separation.
- Parent-Child
- A vertical line descending from a couple line to a child symbol represents a parent-child relationship.
Emotional Relationships
- Close
- Two parallel lines between individuals represent an emotionally close relationship.
- Distant
- A dotted line represents an emotionally distant or disengaged relationship.
- Conflict
- A zigzag line between individuals represents an openly conflictual relationship.
- Fused/Enmeshed
- Three parallel lines with a zigzag overlay represent a fused relationship — emotionally intense with poor boundaries.
Medical Conditions
- Anxiety Conditions
- Shading in the genogram symbol indicates anxiety-spectrum diagnoses (GAD, panic disorder, phobias, OCD).
- Depressive Disorders
- Shading indicates depressive conditions (major depression, dysthymia, bipolar disorder).
- Cardiovascular Conditions
- Shading indicates heart disease, hypertension, stroke, or other cardiovascular conditions.
- Diabetes
- Shading indicates Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes.
- Trauma/PTSD
- Shading indicates post-traumatic stress disorder or complex trauma responses.
- Neurological Conditions
- Shading indicates neurological disorders (Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, epilepsy, etc.).
- Respiratory Conditions
- Shading indicates chronic respiratory conditions (asthma, COPD, etc.).
Related Resources
- Browse our genogram templates to find structures similar to this example.
- See our 3-generation genogram guide for standard multigenerational mapping techniques.
- This example uses the close relationship symbol to denote emotional closeness between family members.
- The fused relationship symbol indicates enmeshed boundaries in this family system.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Three-Generation Household
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Create Your Own Genogram
Use GenogramAI to build your own family genogram with AI assistance. Describe your family and let AI do the rest.
Educational disclaimer: This genogram example is an educational illustration of genogram notation and family systems concepts. Examples based on public figures use publicly available information. They are not clinical documents. All examples are intended for learning genogram symbols and patterns.