The Gallagher Family

The Gallaghers are a large family unit under patriarch Frank Gallagher. Due to Frank’s deteriorating health condition, and social functioning as a result of severe alcohol use disorder, his oldest daughter, Fiona, was thrusted into the role as head of family. Fiona has 5 younger siblings that she cares for, and when Frank attempts to reassert his fatherly role, has to fight for position as the caretaker of the family.
Boundaries and Subsystem
While Fiona did her best to create a semblance of a traditional family unit, the Gallaghers represent a family system with absolutely diffused boundaries. They are almost always inherently non-existent. One of the identifiers of this would what Wetchler and Hecker (2015) identified parental substance

abuse potential motivator for children to cross boundaries into parental roles out of necessity. Because of Frank’s alcoholism, not only did Fiona cross into the boundary of a parent, but this void also created a subgroup of Fiona and her eldest siblings: Ian and Liam. These three siblings formed together for the survival of the family itself, each bearing responsibilities and leaning on each other for the greater good of the unit as a whole.
Supra System
The Gallaghers physical home address is located within a socioeconomically devastated part of the city of Chicago.

Wetchler and Hecker (2015) identified larger contexts surrounding family units, including both social and physical environment, as having a large potential impact. With little education amongst the family, much of their income is either made from illegal activity, jobs that they may not want to do (exotic dancing, prostitution), or low-paying wages. The environment that encompasses offers few escapes from this reality, and has a strong effect on the family system. One example of this would be younger sibling Karl’s awareness of his and his family’s socioeconomic status, and being drawn into the thrill and quick money of dealing

narcotics.
Gallagher Family Roles and Rules
As noted earlier, the Gallaghers have zero boundaries, which as noted by Minuchin (as cited in Boss, 1980), is a clear indicator of a dysfunctional family.

Due to boundary issues, which is mirrored in the Gallagher family structure, family members can bond together to complete familial roles historically carried out by one family member (Boss, 1980). In this example, since Frank Gallagher is typically inebriated or under the influence to the point of unrecognition, the subsystem of Fiona, Ian, and Liam shoulder many interchanging duties within the family (especially in later episodes of the show). This collective effort (minus Frank) appears to have a foundation in one of the only family rules for the Gallagher clan: look out for each other no matter what. This is both an overt and covert rule, as it has not only been said verbally, but demonstrated through the actions of functioning family members (Wetchler and Hecker,

2015).