Separate Families Research Articles

Science in times of war: reflections from Sudan

The war that erupted in Sudan on 15th April 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and Rapid Support Force (RSF) resulted in widespread destruction of national infrastructures, including the educational and research systems. Based on the personal experiences of the authors, this paper discussed the impact of the war on science and community of scientists who remained in Sudan during the war, including the resultant challenges, opportunities offered, and future perspectives. Clearly, the war brought about unquantifiable devastation on professional and personal lives of scientists; internal and external displacement and separation of scientists, colleagues, and families; loss of research and teaching resources; loss of jobs and financial instability; and host of negative psychological, emotional and social issues. Given that more than 10.4 million Sudanese were forcibly displaced, among them scientists, the educational system has been hampered. Available data indicate that in Khartoum State, 39% of governmental and 73% of non-governmental universities were occupied by RSF, whereas it was 10% of governmental and 8% of non-governmental universities in Gezira state. This contrasts with 3% of governmental and 5% of non-governmental university in South Darfur. Some universities and colleges were partially or completely damaged, while in some it was not possible to determine the damage. This has led to complete shutdown of the universities, forcing students to find expensive alternative ways to continue their education or abandon it altogether. Scientists and science in Sudan faced many challenges, which are difficult to overcome. While efforts to restore infrastructure and physical capital will be challenging, the social, psychological, and emotional devastation might be even more intricate. Revitalizing policies and international efforts are needed to support the recovery of the entire educational systems and research infrastructures, as well as the wellbeing of scientists.

What is Known About the Numbers, Experiences and Outcomes of Young People Transitioning from Out-of-home Care in Indonesia?

Young people transitioning from out-of-home care (OOHC), commonly known as care leavers, are widely recognised internationally as a vulnerable group often subject to disadvantage. Yet, most studies of their pathways and outcomes to date have been completed in affluent Global North countries, and there have been relatively few reports on their experiences in Global South locations where different political, legislative, cultural and religious contexts exist. The particular attention of this article is on the Republic of Indonesia. Previous literature regarding children and young people in OOHC in Indonesia highlighted the poor quality of care within OOHC institutions and their adverse experiences of institutionalisation. In recent years, the Government of Indonesia has encouraged deinstitutionalisation by preventing family separation, promoting family-based alternative care and only utilising residential care as a last resort for child care. Nevertheless, little scholarly attention and studies have been given to researching young people leaving OOHC, who are likely to have poor life outcomes. Utilising existing grey government and non-government literature and reports, this policy briefing critically examines what is known about the numbers, experiences and outcomes of young people transitioning from OOHC in Indonesia.

Separate Family Offices Can Minimize Money Problems

Separate Family Offices Can Minimize Money Problems

Cryo-EM structures of ryanodine receptors and diamide insecticides reveal the mechanisms of selectivity and resistance

The resistance of pests to common insecticides is a global issue that threatens food production worldwide. Diamide insecticides target insect ryanodine receptors (RyRs), causing uncontrolled calcium release from the sarcoplasmic and endoplasmic reticulum. Despite their high potency and species selectivity, several resistance mutations have emerged. Using a chimeric RyR (chiRyR) approach and cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM), we investigate how insect RyRs engage two different diamide insecticides from separate families: flubendiamide, a phthalic acid derivative, and tetraniliprole, an anthranilic compound. Both compounds target the same site in the transmembrane region of the RyR, albeit with different poses, and promote channel opening through coupling with the pore-forming domain. To explore the resistance mechanisms, we also solve two cryo-EM structures of chiRyR carrying the two most common resistance mutations, I4790M and G4946E, both alone and in complex with the diamide insecticide chlorantraniliprole. The resistance mutations perturb the local structure, directly reducing the binding affinity and altering the binding pose. Our findings elucidate the mode of action of different diamide insecticides, reveal the molecular mechanism of resistance mutations, and provide important clues for the development of novel pesticides that can bypass the resistance mutations.

Feasibility and Acceptability of a Family-Based Telehealth Intervention for Families Impacted by the Child Welfare System: Formative Mixed Methods Evaluation.

Despite elevated rates of trauma exposure, substance misuse, mental health problems, and suicide, systems-impacted teens and their caregivers have limited access to empirically supported behavioral health services. Family-based interventions are the most effective for improving mental health, education, substance use, and delinquency outcomes, yet the familial and placement disruption that occurs during child welfare involvement can interfere with the delivery of family-based interventions. To address this gap in access to services, we adapted an in-person, empirically supported, family-based affect management intervention using a trauma-informed lens to be delivered via telehealth to families impacted by the child welfare system (Family Telehealth Project). We describe the intervention adaptation process and an open trial to evaluate its feasibility, acceptability, and impact. Adaptations to the in-person, family-based affect management intervention were conducted iteratively with input from youth, caregivers, and systems partners. Through focus groups and collaborative meetings with systems partners, a caregiver-only version of the intervention was also developed. An open trial of the intervention was conducted to assess family perspectives of its acceptability and feasibility and inform further refinements prior to a larger-scale evaluation. Participants included English-speaking families involved in the child welfare system in the past 12 months with teens (aged 12-18 years). Caregivers were eligible to participate either individually (caregivers of origin, kinship caregivers, or foster parents; n=7) or with their teen (caregiver of origin only; n=6 dyads). Participants completed session feedback forms and surveys at pretreatment, posttreatment, and 3-month posttreatment time points. Qualitative exit interviews were conducted with a subset of participants (12/19, 63%) to further understand their experiences with the intervention. Session attendance was high, and both caregivers and teens reported high acceptability of clinicians and sessions on feedback forms. Families were comfortable with video technology, with very few (<5%) sessions having reported technology problems. Thematic analysis of exit interview transcripts indicated that families used effective communication and affect management skills taught during the intervention. Regarding challenges and barriers, some caregiver-only participants expressed a desire to have their teen also participate in the intervention. All interview participants reported that they would recommend the intervention to others and perceptions of the intervention were overwhelmingly positive. Quantitative surveys revealed differential responses to the intervention regarding affect management and communication. An open trial of the Family Telehealth Project, a skills-based telehealth intervention for families impacted by the child welfare system, suggests high levels of intervention feasibility and acceptability. Participants noted improvements in areas often hindered by the impacts of trauma and family separation: communication and affect management. Perceptions of the intervention were positive overall for both teens and caregivers. The Family Telehealth Project shows promise in addressing the gaps in behavioral health access for systems-impacted families. ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04488523; https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT04488523.

Being family via WeChat: Children's interpretation of long‐distance family relationships

AbstractThis study explores how left‐behind children in rural China maintain long‐distance family relationships through WeChat, highlighting the significant role of social media during family separation. It underscores the importance of considering children's voices in understanding family relationships in the digital age. Drawing on online workshops and interviews with 41 participants, the research examines how Chinese left‐behind children use WeChat to facilitate parental engagement and manage their emotions. It also investigates the challenges children face in online communication and their perspectives on grandparental involvement. This article argues that children's agency is situated within structural conditions shaped by a confluence of factors, including technological affordances, unique familial contexts, and socio‐economic inequalities. This situatedness fosters creativity, compromises, and adaptations in ‘being family’ at a distance.

Bible reading and human flourishing among U.S. military families

Bible reading and human flourishing among U.S. military families Sung Joon Jang and Byron R. Johnson, inspire us with their research on Bible reading and human flourishing among U.S. military families. Military service can create unique challenges for active and retired members and their families, such as frequent deployments or relocations and family separation. It also brings into their home lives the mental and physical consequences of war after tours of duty and post-combat experiences. Prior research shows that these stressors tend to have lasting, detrimental effects on the well-being of military personnel, veterans, and their families, including mental illness, poor health, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), substance abuse, marital and family problems, suicide, and domestic violence.

How to Recognize Mosses from Extant Groups among Paleozoic and Mesozoic Fossils

This paper describes a range of Paleozoic and Mesozoic mosses and assesses how far they can be referred to extant taxa at the family, ordinal, or class levels. The present study provides new data on Paleozoic mosses of the order Protosphagnales, re-evaluating affinities of some groups previously thought to be unrelated. The leaf areolation pattern, combined with the leaf costa anatomy, results in the subdivision of Protosphagnales into five separate families: Protosphagnaceae (at least six genera), Polyssaieviaceae (at least three genera), and three monogeneric families: Rhizonigeritaceae, Palaeosphagnaceae, and Servicktiaceae. We urge caution in referring Paleozoic and Early Mesozoic fossil mosses as members of Dicranidae and Bryidae, as they may belong to the extinct moss order Protosphagnales. Additional evidence supports the relation of the Permian genus Arvildia to extant Andreaeopsida. We segregate Late Palaeozoic and Early Mesozoic mosses that are superficially similar to extant members of either Dicranales or Polytrichales, into the artificial informal group of Archaeodicranids, distinguishing them from ecostate Paleozoic and Mesozoic mosses, which are combined here into another artificial informal group, Bryokhutuliinids. The latter includes the genus Bryokhutuliinia, widespread in contemporary Asia, from the Middle Jurassic to the Lower Cretaceous, as well as other superficially similar ecostate plants from different regions worldwide, ranging from the Upper Palaeozoic to the Lower Cretaceous. A list of Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Eocene moss fossils suitable for age calibration in phylogenetic trees is provided.

Effects of climate change on migration in Latin America and Caribbean: a scoping review

Climate change-induced natural disasters such as hurricanes, landslides, forest fires, and changes in precipitation directly affect rural sectors that depend on field production and other dimensions of everyday life. This generates the mobilization of people from their homes to safer places within the same country or across borders. There is a lack of information on the impacts of climate change on environmental migrants in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). This scoping review aims to describe the scientific evidence of the health effects of climate change on migrant in LAC. The review was conducted using databases from PubMed, Web of Science (WoS), and Google Scholar in English, Spanish and Portuguese. After screening the title, abstract, and full text of identified hits (n = 726), 31 records were finally included. Evidence indicates that climate change relates to health and healthcare, psychosocial and infrastructure dimensions among migrants in LAC. Health effects refer to limited access to healthcare, underdiagnosis, increased susceptibility to diseases and mental health conditions like stress and anxiety. Psychosocial dimensions refer to a heightened risk of sexual and gender-based violence, social marginalization, family separation, and loss of identity and culture. Infrastructure refers to environmental degradation and agricultural and urban infrastructure destruction. Multiple adaptations to these conditions are described among migrant populations in the region. Recommendations for improvements are presented. This scoping review suggests climate change’s significant health, psychosocial, and infrastructural associations with migrants in Latin America.

The transnational mental health burden of Haiti's alleged collapse: preliminary findings from The Haitian Well-Being Study.

Transnational drug trafficking, political unrest, gang violence, and paramilitarism, which are pervasive in Haiti, have resulted in a mental health crisis for the broader Haitian community. This study explores the mental well-being of Haitians in Haiti and the United States by identifying barriers and facilitators to mental health through the lived experiences of men and women. Four Focus group discussions conducted in April and November 2023 engaged 28 participants (20 women and eight men) aged between 23 and 60 years from locations in Haiti (Port-au-Prince, Cite Soleil, Cayes, Cap-Haitien, Saint-Marc) and the United States. Discussions revolved around the definition of mental health, stressors, coping mechanisms, risk and protective factors, and barriers to mental health care. Six principal themes emerged: 1- Chronic Traumatic Stress: continued violence, political instability, unemployment, lack of social support, adverse childhood experiences, family separation, and forced displacement were significant sources of stress. 2- Increased Health Burden: Participants reported experiencing chronic physical and psychological symptoms [i.e., hypertension, anxiety, depression, sleep issues, substance abuse, suicidal ideations, characteristics of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)], which were attributed to Haiti's social, political, and infrastructure collapse. 3- Risk Factors: limited access to mental health services, pervasive hopelessness, scarcity of opportunities, and stigma were identified as significant risks. 4- Future Uncertainty: widespread concerns regarding the future predominated. 5- Multigenerational Concerns: Significant anxiety concerning the mental health and development of children, as well as the functionality of mental health practitioners, was noted. 6- Coping and Protective Factors: Effective coping strategies include mental stimulation, peer support, managing digital consumption, engaging in leisurely activities, such as listening to music, and faith/spirituality. The study's findings underscore the sociopolitical and economic crisis in Haiti, which has resulted in violence and a dismantle of political, educational, financial, and health infrastructures. These factors were identified as the primary source of chronic distress, contributing to widespread mental health issues, adverse physical symptoms, and disruption in daily life. The implications for practice, healing, research & policy are discussed.

Parent-child border separation and the road to repair: addressing a global refugee phenomenon

ABSTRACT As a result of the Department of Homeland Security’s zero-tolerance policy (ZTP), over 5,000 children were separated from their parents at the U.S. southern border from 2017-2021, with over 1,000 still lacking confirmed reunifications. Separations also occur daily due to immigration raids, chaotic processing, and changing immigration policies. This article addresses the most fundamental question faced by families enduring such separations; how to mend attachment bonds that have been suddenly severed, especially within a population likely already traumatized. The paper begins by updating readers about separation in the United States and offers a concise summary of the consequences of child-parent separation. The paper then introduces Child-Parent Psychotherapy (CPP) as an intervention for affected families. This paper also uniquely applies CPP to older children and provides three case examples of its use in treating separated families. Finally, the paper offers general suggestions for supporting these families.

Abstract B154: Effect modification of United States residency and length of time in US on the relationship between allostatic load and cancer mortality risk in Hispanic/Latinx Americans: Insights from NHANES (1999-2019)

Abstract Allostatic load (AL) a measure of the cumulative physiological stress occurs when external stressors exceed an individual's ability to adapt, increasing the risk of chronic diseases, including cancer. In the United States (US), Hispanic/Latinx people face acculturation-related stressors like family separation, low socioeconomic status, language barriers, racism, and discrimination, which can elevate AL and cancer risk. This study aims to examine the moderating role of US citizenship status and length of time living in US on the relationship between high allostatic load and risk of cancer mortality among Hispanic/Latinx people. We performed a retrospective analysis using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) from 1999 to 2010 among 7,299 Hispanic/Latinx people linked with National Death Index with follow-up through December 31, 2019. We defined high AL as having more than three abnormal measures among the following nine biomarkers: body mass index, C-reactive protein, diastolic blood pressure, glycated hemoglobin, systolic blood pressure, total cholesterol, serum triglycerides, and serum creatinine (above the 75th percentile), or serum albumin (below the 25th percentile). We compared differences in participant characteristics using Rao-Scott Chi-Square tests for weighted survey data. We fit weighted Cox proportional hazards models to estimate hazard ratios and associated 95% confidence intervals of cancer death, stratified by US residence and length of time in US Among 7,299 Hispanic/Latinx people, 2,835 (33.4% weighted) had high AL, and 4,464 (66.6% weighted) had low AL. Hispanic/Latinx people with high AL were more likely to be male, aged 40-59, have a lower level of formal education (52.0% vs. 43.6%, p- value &amp;lt;0.001), and were more often surveyed during the 2007-2010 NHANES period (43.2% vs. 37.2%, p-value &amp;lt;0.001) compared to those with low AL. When considering US residency, participants with high AL were more likely to live in the US longer than 15 years (38.2% vs. 24.8%, p-value &amp;lt;0.001) and be US citizens (65.0% vs. 54.7%, p-value &amp;lt;0.001). Regarding health behaviors, participants with high AL were less likely to have been diagnosed with heart attack and less likely to have any history of smoking. We observed that among Hispanic/Latinx people, those with high AL have a 97% increased risk of dying from any cancer (HR = 1.97, 95% CI = 1.24 - 1.34) when compared to those with low AL. When stratifying by US citizenship status, among Hispanic/Latinx US citizen population those with high AL have a 2.3-times higher risk of cancer death when compared to those with low AL (HR = 2.30, 95% CI = 1.22 - 4.32). Among those who are Hispanic/Latinx non-US citizens, those with high AL have 48% increased risk of cancer death compared to those with low AL, though non-significant (HR = 1.48, 95% CI = 0.64 - 3.43). Our preliminary findings highlight that Hispanic/Latinx people with US citizenship who experience high levels of chronic stress, as measured by AL, have an increased risk of cancer mortality. Citation Format: Jessica Amezcua, Mellisa Lopez-Pentecost, Jessica Y. Islam, Marlo Vernon, Kathleen L. O'Connor, Justin X. Moore. Effect modification of United States residency and length of time in US on the relationship between allostatic load and cancer mortality risk in Hispanic/Latinx Americans: Insights from NHANES (1999-2019) [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 17th AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2024 Sep 21-24; Los Angeles, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2024;33(9 Suppl):Abstract nr B154.

Ten Likely Changes to Immigration Policy Under Trump 2.0

Executive Summary During his first administration, former President Trump adopted aggressive anti-immigrant policies, which included family separation, a ban on individuals from Muslim-majority countries, stringent border policies like the Remain in Mexico and Title 42, and attempted terminations of programs such as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for several national groups. Attorneys and representatives for immigrants had some success in pushing back against the administration’s most extreme measures through litigation and advocacy. Should they return to the White House, Trump and his supporters have promised to enact an even more draconian anti-immigrant agenda, including a commitment to conducting the largest mass deportation in U.S. history, ending birthright citizenship (which is guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment), and revoking humanitarian protections for those already in the United States. Many of these efforts, of course, will be challenged in court. This article summarizes 10 likely immigration initiatives under a second Trump administration. It seeks to educate members of the public who value the crucial role and myriad contributions of immigrants and refugees — past and present — in the United States. It will also outline how advocates can fight to protect their clients from these measures.

Assessment of livestock husbandry practices and production constraints among smallholder mixed crop-livestock production systems in the Majang zone, southwest Ethiopia

Livestock production plays a significant role in improving the livelihoods of poor smallholder farmer households in the Majang zone. However, despite its importance, there is limited information on husbandry practices and constraints on livestock production to design and implement effective interventions to maximize productivity. The aim of this study was to assess husbandry practices and major constraints on livestock production in the Majang zone, southwest Ethiopia. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect data from a randomly selected sample of 168 households (HHs) through a face-to-face interview from January to May 2021. The results revealed that mixed crop-livestock farming is the dominant livestock production system in the study area. The overall average herd size per household (HH) was 2.15 ± 0.11 cattle, 0.15 ± 0.01 sheep, 0.31 ± 0.09 goats, 0.10 ± 0.02 donkey, 0.04 ± 0.00 mule, 0.13 ± 0.02 horses and 0.24 ± 0.02 chickens. Overall herd size did not differ significantly by AEZ except for sheep (p < 0.05). The primary reason for keeping cattle, goats, sheep, equines and poultry were milk production (27.4 %), meat for home consumption (33.9 %), cash income (33.3 %), transportation (85.1 %), and meat for home consumption (72 %), respectively. In the dry and wet seasons, natural pasture, crop residues, indigenous fodder trees and shrubs (IFTSs), nonconventional feed resources (NCFRs), crop stubbles and improved forages were the main livestock feed resources. The majority (60.1 %) of respondents practiced free-grazing systems. Separate sheds, family dwellings, kraals, and open-walled sheds were the main housing systems used for animals. The majority (79.2 %) of respondents used rivers as a source of livestock drinking water. Trypanosomiasis (18.45 %), African horse sickness (66.1 %) and Newcastle disease (47.02 %) were the most important diseases of livestock. Diseases (35.7 %), lack of access to artificial insemination (35.7 %) and inadequate veterinary services (11.3 %) were identified as the top three constraints limiting production. It is recommended that constraints identified by farmers should be considered in developing and implementing effective interventions to improve livestock productivity and their contribution to poverty alleviation in the study area.

Unsupervised discovery of family specific vocal usage in the Mongolian gerbil.

In nature, animal vocalizations can provide crucial information about identity, including kinship and hierarchy. However, lab-based vocal behavior is typically studied during brief interactions between animals with no prior social relationship, and under environmental conditions with limited ethological relevance. Here, we address this gap by establishing long-term acoustic recordings from Mongolian gerbil families, a core social group that uses an array of sonic and ultrasonic vocalizations. Three separate gerbil families were transferred to an enlarged environment and continuous 20-day audio recordings were obtained. Using a variational autoencoder (VAE) to quantify 583,237 vocalizations, we show that gerbils exhibit a more elaborate vocal repertoire than has been previously reported and that vocal repertoire usage differs significantly by family. By performing gaussian mixture model clustering on the VAE latent space, we show that families preferentially use characteristic sets of vocal clusters and that these usage preferences remain stable over weeks. Furthermore, gerbils displayed family-specific transitions between vocal clusters. Since gerbils live naturally as extended families in complex underground burrows that are adjacent to other families, these results suggest the presence of a vocal dialect which could be exploited by animals to represent kinship. These findings position the Mongolian gerbil as a compelling animal model to study the neural basis of vocal communication and demonstrates the potential for using unsupervised machine learning with uninterrupted acoustic recordings to gain insights into naturalistic animal behavior.

Addressing the Impacts of Racism on American Indian and Alaska Native Child Health

The legacy of racism toward Native Americans is far-reaching. We will review the topic using the conceptual model of racism as a form of violence as it is inherent in racism, as are prejudice and power. Using the basic frameworks of racism as internalized, interpersonal, institutional, and structural, we will discuss the many types of racism affecting Native Americans today. Racism is the bedrock of generations of trauma experienced in Native communities. The generational/historical trauma of racism has led to epigenetic-level changes affecting Native American people today. We will cover the health impacts of racism and the many institutions built in racist frameworks that continue to perpetuate racism, such as family separation and child removal by child protective services, adverse policing, and disparate incarceration. These allow reflection on policies and the intentionality of racist structures. We will conclude with what can and should be done, particularly as clinicians who work within and adjacent to existing systems of oppression.

Evolution of the Cytomegalovirus RL11 gene family in Old World monkeys and Great Apes.

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is a genus of herpesviruses, members of which share a long history of coevolution with their primate hosts including New World monkeys, Old World monkeys (OWMs), and Great Apes (GAs). These viruses are ubiquitous within their host populations and establish lifelong infection in most individuals. Although asymptomatic in healthy individuals, infection poses a significant risk to individuals with a weakened or underdeveloped immune system. The genome of human CMV is the largest among human-infecting viruses and comprises at least 15 separate gene families, which may have arisen by gene duplication. Within human CMV, the RL11 gene family is the largest. RL11 genes are nonessential in vitro but have immune evasion roles that are likely critical to persistence in vivo. These genes demonstrate an extreme level of inter-species and intra-strain sequence diversity, which makes it challenging to deduce the evolutionary relationships within this gene family. Understanding the evolutionary relationships of these genes, especially accurate ortholog identification, is essential for reconstructing ancestral genomes, deciphering gene repertoire and order, and enabling reliable functional analyses across the CMV species, thereby offering insights into evolutionary processes, genetic diversity, and the functional significance of genes. In this work, we combined in silico genome screening with sequence-based and structure-guided phylogenetic analysis to reconstruct the evolutionary history of the RL11 gene family. We confirmed that RL11 genes are unique to OWM and GA CMVs, showing that this gene family was formed by multiple early duplication events and later lineage-specific losses. We identified four main clades of RL11 genes and showed that their expansions were mainly lineage specific and happened independently in CMVs of GAs, African OWMs, and Asian OWMs. We also identified groups of orthologous genes across the CMV tree, showing that some human CMV-specific RL11 genes emerged before the divergence of human and chimpanzee CMVs but were subsequently lost in the latter. The extensive and dynamic species-specific evolution of this gene family suggests that their functions target elements of host immunity that have similarly coevolved during speciation.

Im/migration, mental health and well-being, and newcomer Filipino families: implications for anti-racist and anti-oppressive policies and practice

ABSTRACT This article draws upon the perspectives of newcomer Filipino families who have migrated through the global domestic work industry, specifically through Canada's Live-in/Caregiver Program (L/CP), and the perspectives of Filipino social service providers in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. I examine how newcomer Filipino families make meaning of, and negotiate, the impact of family separation and reunification through the L/CP on their mental health and well-being. Moreover, I look at how Filipino social service providers center the experiences of newcomer Filipino families within service provision through an anti-racist and anti-oppressive framework, which has implications for policies and praxis in community-based agencies. The paper moves from deficit-focused experiences of ‘trauma’ to centring the voices of newcomer Filipino families as agents of change, in collaboration with Filipino social service providers. This shift illuminates how newcomer Filipino families and their lived experiences are sites of transformation in the policy and practices that impact their mental health and well-being.

Disorganisasi Keluarga dalam Novel Sunyi Paling Riuh Karya Fajar Sulaiman

This research aims to determine the forms of family disorganization in the novel Sunyi Terriuh by Fajar Sulaiman, the factors causing family disorganization in the novel Sunyi Terriuh by Fajar Sulaiman, and the impact of family disorganization in the novel Sunyi Terriuh by Fajar Sulaiman. This research uses the theory of literary sociology studies. This research is literary research using descriptive methods. The data source for this research is the novel Sunyi Terriuh by Fajar Sulaiman. The results of this research are forms of family disorganization, namely (a) cancellation, separation, divorce and abandonment and (2) empty membrane families. The factors causing disorganization are divided into two, namely internal factors (from within), namely (a) lack of mature thinking or processing of the household which leads to continuous fighting and loss of harmony in the household, (b) Selfish attitudes, namely attitudes that are more selfish. own interests rather than shared interests (c) busyness problems. The impact of family disorganization (a) makes children stressed, children become violent (b) aggressive, children will lose their role. models, (c) children's education becomes disrupted, and (d) children become easily sensitive.

Polygamy and Nikah Sirri Culture of Agen Thrifting Families in Teluk Nibung: An Islamic Family Law Perspective

Ideally, Islamic family law regulates polygamy with clear provisions to ensure justice and the welfare of all parties involved. In reality, within the culture of Agen Thrifting families in Teluk Nibung, Tanjung Balai, polygamy and nikah sirri (unregistered marriages) are often adopted as strategies to circumvent stringent legal regulations, creating issues related to legal status and family rights. This study aims to examine the practices of polygamy and nikah sirri in the context of Agen Thrifting families, focusing on how these practices interact with Islamic family law provisions. This article is categorized as qualitative field research. The methodology employed is a juridical-empirical approach, combining legal analysis with direct field observations. The research findings indicate that the culture of polygamy among Agen Thrifting families is often accompanied by nikah sirri as an effort to evade strict legal regulations. This results in negative impacts, including family separation and unclear status of children. Such practices undermine the principles of Islamic family law, particularly the assurance of family rights protection and legal recognition in accordance with justice principles.