In This Article
Chosen family. The non-biological, non-legal kinship network a person assembles deliberately over their adult life, typically through close friendships, partnership, and community. Distinguished from family of origin (the family one was born or adopted into) and from family of choice in some sociological literatures, where the two are treated as synonyms.
Where the term comes from
The term chosen family was popularized in the late 20th century in LGBTQ communities, in part as a response to estrangement from families of origin. Kath Weston's 1991 book Families We Choose was the most-cited academic treatment and stabilized the term in sociological vocabulary. The phrase has since broadened into general use, describing any deliberately-assembled adult kinship network whether or not estrangement from origin is part of the story.
How it shows up in real life
Five adults in their late 30s and 40s spend Thanksgiving together every year. They have lived in three different cities over a decade, do not share blood, do not share legal documents. They show up for one another's medical appointments, attend the funerals of one another's parents, and are the people on the emergency-contact line at one another's doctors. The function is family, performed by people who are not, in the legal or genetic sense, family.
Common misuses
Chosen family is sometimes applied loosely to any close friendship circle. The diagnostic condition is the actual functional substitution for family roles: showing up for medical crises, parental funerals, end-of-life decisions, financial emergencies. A close friend group that has not crossed those thresholds is a close friend group, not a chosen family. The two are different commitments.
