Family

Identifying and definitional attributes
Metadata item type:	Glossary Item
METEOR identifier:	327232
Registration status:	Community Services (retired), Superseded 31/08/2007 Housing assistance, Standard 01/03/2005
Definition:	Two or more people related by blood, marriage (including step-relations), adoption or fostering and who may or may not live together. They may form the central core of support networks for individuals.
Context:	Data on families are essential elements for the study of the well being of family groups and in this way for the study of the well being of individuals. They are a tool for assessing the type of and level of support to which a person has access. By defining the extended family as the central support network for individual, support which would not have been defined as accessible to the individual using the 'Household family' definition becomes apparent. It is important to recognise the 'family beyond the household' when examining types and levels of support available to individuals.

Collection and usage attributes
Comments:	The 'household family' has been traditionally viewed as a building block of society and it is the predominant unit reported statistically and historically. However, the 'household family', since it is tied to the idea of co-residence, forms only a snapshot in time and refers only to related people who live in the same household at a point in time. Related persons who leave the central household live in other households may still participate in the lives of other family members they do not live with in a variety of ways, including financial, material, physical, emotional, legal and spiritual. For instance, frail older people may receive help from their adult children even though they do not live in the same household. The definition for this glossary item differs from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) standard. This is necessary because the ABS standard is based on household collection, which is not suitable, in many community services' areas. The community service definition needs to be broader to incorporate families that exist outside of households.
Source and reference attributes
Submitting organisation:	Australian Institute of Family Studies
Origin:	McDonald, P. 1995. Families in Australia: A Socio-Demographic Perspective. Melbourne: Australian Institute of Family Studies.
Relational attributes
Related metadata references:	Supersedes Family, version 2, DEC, NCSDD, NCSIMG, Superseded 01/03/2005.pdf (15.7 KB) No registration status Supersedes Family, version 1, DEC, NHADD, NHDAMG, Superseded 01/03/2005.pdf (13.9 KB) No registration status Has been superseded by Family ACT Health (retired), Candidate 02/01/2019 Children and Families, Standard 22/11/2016 Community Services (retired), Standard 31/08/2007 Disability, Standard 07/10/2014 Health, Standard 31/08/2007 Housing assistance, Standard 01/05/2013 Indigenous, Standard 16/09/2014 Tasmanian Health, Candidate 08/03/2017
Metadata items which use this glossary item:	Household—family type, code N Community Services (retired), Superseded 27/04/2007 Household—household composition, code N{.N} Housing assistance, Superseded 10/02/2006 Person (name)—given name, text X[X(39)] Community Services (retired), Superseded 25/08/2005 Health, Superseded 04/05/2005 Person (requiring care)—carer availability status Community Services (retired), Superseded 02/05/2006 Health, Superseded 04/07/2007 Person (requiring care)—carer availability status, code N Community Services (retired), Superseded 29/04/2006 Health, Superseded 04/07/2007