Black Families In Thearpy: Understanding The African American Experience

What has been mentioned before is the reciprocity extended families and kinship provides that are very important in African American culture. Reciprocity is essentially helping another family member through physical and emotional support in their daily lives. Nancy Franklin in her “Black Families in Thearpy: Understanding the African American Experience” claims that the extended family system is the backbone of strength in an African Family. Franklin states there are four different types of African American Extended Family Models, Subfamilies, Families with secondary members, Augmented families, and non-blood relatives (F. Nancy, 2003 page 58). Regardless of the type of family, the reciprocity from families member depends on the the emotional
connection and the location of the family members. The stronger the emotional connection is the stronger the attachment will be. For an example, if the extended families is strongly involved in the family, they have something called “Kin Insurance” (F. Nancy, 2003 page 54). Kin insurance is taking care of the family’s child with the expectation of having help in return. This not only strengthen the bond but share the burden as well.