5 credits

Human Services professional practitioners often spend a great deal of time working with, supporting, and advocating for families and contemporary family issues. Understanding the social construction of families and the challenges facing family systems is vital to advancing social change in human services. In this course, students will examine contemporary family issues from micro, meso and macro perspectives, including issues in the current research, legislation, popular media, and personal and professional experiences. Students will identify a contemporary family issue that needs advocacy, review public and private attitudes, compile a current annotated bibliography on the topic, and present an advocacy paper to peers.