Stepfamily Policies and Laws in the United States: Lessons from the West

Abstract

Although stepfamilies exist in some form in nearly every country in the world, they are most common in Western countries. This paper provides a summary of laws, policies, and programs pertaining to stepfamilies in a selection of Western countries, with a special focus on the United States. Although stepfamilies have been prevalent throughout the West for decades, they remain “incompletely institutionalized,” and governments have been slow to address their needs and concerns. There is large variation across Western countries with respect to how stepfamilies are treated under the law, with some countries employing more liberal definitions of “parents,” “children,” and “families,” than others. In contrast, stepfamilies in the United States must contend with a complex and conflicting set of federal laws, state laws, and court precedents. Their legal status is uncertain and the way stepfamilies are treated is inconsistent across social programs and policies. Overall, there is clear bias against stepfamilies within most U.S. institutions. The review includes recommendations for change that would enhance stepfamily stability and quality of life in both Western and non-Western contexts.

Parent and Child Interaction Models in Islamic-Based Family Education

“…Both concepts related to sharia, education and today's challenges. This aims to unite the steps as parents so that the direction of the family becomes clear in navigating the ark of married life (Stewart & Timothy, 2020).…”

(Bio)Logics of The Family: Gender, Biological Relatedness, and Attitudes Toward Children’s Gender Nonconformity in a Vignette Experiment1

“…Step families have been theorized as an incomplete institution (Cherlin 1978), and research generally supports this notion (Ganong and Coleman 2017;Stewart and Timothy 2020). This theorization brought attention to the dearth of norms and guidelines that exist for the roles step parents are expected to fulfill within the family, and the fact that culturally endorsed forms of language, legal relations, and customs are absent, all of which typify first-marriage families.…”

“…Step families exist in social and legal limbo, an unsurprising ramification of the cultural equating of genes and kinship and the truth regime of the heterosexual nuclear family (Stewart and Timothy 2020; Sullivan 2001). These conceptions of step families are likely highly relevant to their location in accountability structures, with step parents likely feeling less accountable for children’s actions in comparison to biological parents, as biological parents might be held solely or more responsible for children’s wellbeing and outcomes (see Moore 2008).…”

Non-Financial Support Provided to Parents in Stepfamilies: Empirical Examination of Europeans 50+

“…Nowadays, the highest proportions of stepfamilies are found in the United States and Western European countries. In Sweden, 27% of children under 18 live with a stepparent; in Finland, Germany, and the UK, 25% of parents who have a child are separated, and most of them form new partnerships; 42% of Americans declare to have at least one step relative, and these percentages continue to rise [ 10 ].…”