A family is an environment or ecosystem where its members function in an interrelated fashion. It typically consists of a parenting unit or single parent and their children. Traditionally, the parenting unit has been a mother and father, but may consist, for example, of a mother and grandmother, or two mothers, or two fathers, or a mother and her aunt, or a foster mother and/or father. Its members also include all those who operate within the system for an extended period of time, who are identified as a family member by the majority of individuals in the family, for example, an aunt or a grandparent, cousins, or foster brothers and sisters, who are active in the family ecosystem, even if the family members do not ...