School Libraries Strive to Keep Pace with New Family Structures
Some students at Beehive Elementary School in Kearns, Utah, come from families with a mother, a father and their biological children living together under one roof. Many will likely have a dog.
Others belong to families comprised of two Dads or two Moms, or one Mom who works and is single, or where both parents are unemployed and they do not have a roof because they are homeless.
“The majority of my students come from single parent households, or have been adopted by family members who are not their biological parents,” says Caren Burns, a teacher at Beehive. “Others have LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, questioning) parents, and some have parents who are incarcerated.”
As sweeping social changes redefine “family,” school librarians are frantically trying to stock shelves with progressive book collections to help serve diverse student populations. Stock characters of parents often featured in traditional literature are now viewed as in need of an overhaul.
“We need to find students books that will relate to their family situations and various backgrounds,” says Burns, a member of the Granite Education Association (GEA). “I think having a wider variety of family structures show up in the texts that our students are reading nationwide will increase literacy learning, help them work through tough family situations, and provide literature they can emotionally connect to.”
A report by the Pew Research Center identified recent trends in family structures being comprised of more:
• Unmarried couples raising children.
• Gay and lesbian couples raising children.
• Single women having children without a male partner to help raise them.
• People living together without getting married.
• Mothers of young children working outside the home.
• People of different races marrying each other.
• Unmarried couples raising children.
• Gay and lesbian couples raising children.
• Single women having children without a male partner to help raise them.
• People living together without getting married.
• Mothers of young children working outside the home.
• People of different races marrying each other.
“Children who belong to non-traditional families often experience bullying, social School Libraries Strive to Keep Pace with New Family Structures - NEA Today: