Modern Issues in Family Formation The story which Melanie Thernstrom shared with the readers of The New York Times actually represents a rather sensitive topic in the discussion of the institute of family. Melanie suffered from inability to have children for a long time. Every time, when her pregnancy failed, she felt that her life is ruining (Thernstrom, 2010). After unsuccessful fertility treatment, she and her husband decided to apply for surrogacy. Unarguably, the surrogacy is rather painful issue in the society with some part of people accepting it and the other one claiming that it is wrong to divide a child with the woman who gave him life. Speaking about the society as a whole, it will be logical to cite the words of Bayer J.A. who says that “like every other culture, American society depends on reproduction for its continued existence” (Bayer, 2002). Sutherland and McCall Smith (1990) mention that “some legislators and jurists have responded positively to this challenge; others appear to have felt threatened by what has been seen as a frontal assault on the traditional notions of genetic relationship and family bonds” (p. 2) In spite of the controversy around the problem, Melanie and Michael did not want to live their life without children. Nowadays, Kieran and Violet are the children of Melanie and Michael making their family complete and happy. In my opinion, the relationships between adults and children in this family do not suffer from the fact that Kieran and Violet are not biological children of Melanie and Michael. Moreover, it will be incorrect to say that the way these children have been born will influence their future life in some negative way. Instead, they will be always lovely children of Melanie and Michael who will take care for them. The Problem of Family Institutionalization Another problem in the sphere of family relationships touches upon those families, the members of which became imprisoned. Generally speaking, this issue is about the attitude of the society not only to the sentenced themselves but also to their relatives. The incarceration became the way of the family institutionalization which can be explained as the formal organization of family made by some external institutes such as the court. The film A Sentence Apart is devoted to the problems of the families of incarcerated. One story included in the film is told by the young girl, whose father was sentenced when she was born. In essence her father’s sentence and isolation became the reason for her own alienation which she felt while being a child. Nowadays, the girl says that she has overcome that and she makes the efforts to inform a society about the problems of the families of the incarcerated. “We are the leaders of tomorrow, and there will be no leadership in a future if there are no protective due here in a sentences carcer” (Community Works, 2010). There are other types of family institutionalization including the military one. Unarguably, it differs from those described above. Military institutionalization of family is called to unite people in case of war or external threat to the nation, whereas institutionalization of imprisoned families reflects the legal regula