Who counts as family and do we all have to live in the same house?
There are many different kinds of being a family in contemporary Britain. Who you count as family and which people live together as ‘family’ can mean different things to different people. We are not trying to standardize families into one model, but in the first stage of the project (the pilot project), because we are working within a short time period and on a limited budget, we will be only looking to speak with people who share the same household. In those families where older children have ‘left home’, in step-families or families where parents have separated, we would not expect to talk with members of your family who do not live with you, but we would want to talk to you about how you maintain your relationship with them. In all families, we sustain close, loving relationships with people who do not live with us – parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and friends. We are interested in hearing how you communicate your feelings and retain emotional ties with people who you love and/
