Nontraditional Families

Decisions in the Older Years: Thinking About Relocating You are about to meet Betty, a 67-year-old widow living alone in a mid-western city where she has become an integral part of her community over the past 44 years. Her one surviving daughter...

Acknowledging the Positives of Aging Building Blocks The young-old are individuals over 65 who maintain active, vital lives and an up-to-date interest in larger world around them.Joan Borysenko, Ph.D., author of A Woman's Book of Life, espouses ...

Bringing a New Baby into a Stepfamily Hoorah! You've decided, or you're pregnant, or the adoption papers have been filed. What now? Who tells the ex(es)? How are you going to tell the kids? And how are your kids and stepkids going to react? Who ...

This worksheet can help you learn more about your partner's children and take the stress out of stepparenting. ...

Stepparenting: Slow and Steady Wins the Race Mom Alert! Children are quite proficient relationship saboteurs when they want to be. All the more reason to take it slow as you build a relationship with your stepchildren. If you are in a situation ...

Single Mothering: Life After Divorce Get used to this one simple fact: You are not going to feel much like doing anything for a while. It may be difficult for you to find the energy or emotional resources to do even the simplest of tasks. You ma...

Stepparent Adoption Step-Speak One's biochild is one's birth child. Adoption is a legal procedure in which an adult becomes the legal parent of someone who is not his or her biochild. Relative adoption is adoption by somebody related to the chil...

Holiday Logistics for Stepfamilies So who's gonna spend the holiday where? Sometimes holiday plans are predetermined by custody agreements, but sometimes there's flexibility built in. If you've got some options, discuss them with the kids and tr...

Keep the Peace: Planning the Stepfamily's Holidays Deck the halls, spin the dreidel, roast the turkey, light the candles; it's holiday time! You've been through the wedding and you thought the worst was over! Now it's Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza...

Celebrating Your Victories It's vital to mark milestones, victories, and accomplishments, both large and small. My friend Ailsa is a professional at this, but I'm not. I tend to take any achievements in stride, barely noticing them, as though ju...

When the Kids Are Jealous Kids are often jealous of their parent's friends, dates, and lovers. It's important for them to see that their parent has friends. If a child is expressing jealousy, take a walk in his shoes. Is he only with his biopare...

The Extended Family Step-Speak To extend means both to enlarge and to reach out. An extended family is both larger and more encompassing of other people. The shape of the American family is changing for the better, becoming more inclusive, more ...

Top Stepmother Complaints It helps to know that you're not alone, and it helps to know what biofathers are beefing about, too. Here, then (drum roll, Johnny), are some of the top complaints of stepmothers and their partners, in no particular num...

Adoption for Stepfamilies Adoption is one area that's easier to navigate for stepfamilies than it is for non-stepfamilies. (We found an easier area! Hurrah!) Adoption after a parent has died is simplest. It can get confusing—not to mention leg...

Adoption: Single with Children Every state in the United States allows single people to adopt. As a result, marital status isn't a legal barrier to adopting a child anywhere. At least, not officially. Many adoption agencies and attorneys, howeve...

Save Our Stepfamily! Assessing the situation is the hardest part. Once you've made the decision to get some help for your family, you'll find that there are lots of resources available. Therapy is a tool; it's a way to learn, take care of yourse...

Stepfamily Problems As we've learned, problems leak. It's rare that only one person in a stepfamily is troubled or sad. People affect each other. Then there are all the interdynamics of living together…. Problems in Your Marriage With all the ...

Stepchildren with Problems A stepchild with problems creates problems for the entire family. High-stress behavior never happens in a vacuum; even one member of the family “losing it” is one too many, and this affects the stepfamily as a whol...