Many people who have family still consider a friend to be their Next of Kin. There are many reasons, including geography (many residents have sons / daughters overseas) and relationship breakdown, but we must not limit our considerations to conventional 'family'.
Until I worked in #socialcare I was very naive about how common relationship breakdown within 'families' is. You might be surprised how many people have children but no contact - I know I was. There are also plenty of cases when children simply drift away.
In any case, I am a huge believer that all of us 'build our own family' as we move through life; many of us have friends who are very important parts of our lives, and as 'blood relatives' are more dispersed, these friends are increasingly important.
Sadly there are some people who have no-one, particularly the very old who have often simply outlived all of their peers. [One resident of 106 had outlived all of the generation after her in her family]
It is incumbent on us as society to make sure those people are not forgotten.
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