That we all need the mutual support and nurturance only an effectively functioning extended family can provide is evident.
And, that blood relatives and next door neighbors aren't always sufficiently compatible to provide the full spectrum of such mutual support and nurturance that we are all in need of today is also evident.
But, in our modern age, we have the means to forge such extended family relationships with others who are compatible.
If we can but see it, we have the ability to create extended families out of the matrix of our whole society, of various mixtures and of various types, including blood relatives and neighbors to whatever appropriate degree, so as to work, and work well , for all of us.
For some this might be in the nature of a commune. For others it might be in the nature of a neighborhood or community co-operative. For still others it might involve longer distance ties, or a hybrid combination of some or all of these, or some new arrangement no one has yet thought of.
But whatever arrangements or structures such extended families might turn out to be, all that is required to accomplish this is the frank recognition and acknowledgment that we all need the benefits of a genuine extended family, and that we are fully capable of developing such families appropriate to our modern conditions.
And, such an arrangement can be much more broadly based than the current structure of independent nuclear families and a few friends.
Indeed, this very concept is already being developed in a limited way in the idea of 'net-working' in business and professional contacts. But there is no need to limit it to the more mundane aspect of career. It can just as easily be applied to the even more fundamental aspects of family and inner spiritual growth as well.
If the minds are open to the idea and desirous of it, and the elements of LOVE and FRIENDship are truly present, the appropriate structure will develop among the people involved almost as a matter of course.