Essay On Stepfamilies

It is an overwhelming concept to consider that roughly 4 million children are living with a biological parent and a stepparent who are married (Cherlin p.407). Stepfamilies are growing in popularity throughout our society through the rising rate of divorce and those parents remarrying. A stepfamily consists of “a household in which two adults are married or cohabitating and at least one has a child present from a previous marriage or relationship” (Judge 2015). It is hard to generalize the composition of stepfamilies because they are complex. No two stepfamilies are the same. Stepfamilies are hard for the each member of the family and they take months even years to get accustomed too. The traditions and roles of everyone in the family often …show more content…
Another form of stepfamilies is a father-stepmother family. This occurs when “all of the children are the biological children of the father and the stepchildren of the mother” (Judge 2015). This can be seen when the mother is incapable or not around to help with the children. Children will then live with their father for majority of the time with a different mother. Lastly there is a joint stepfamily. A joint stepfamily is when “ at least one child is the biological child of both parents, or at least one child is the biological child of only one parent and a stepchild of the other parent, and there are no other children present” (Judge 2015). Stepfamilies also can consist of parents who are gay or lesbian also. Unfortunately these families face more scrutiny because of the negative stereotype behind them being gay or lesbian. There is often a lot of backlash from society and their own community on the blended family. However most of the challenges that these stepfamilies face come from the stereotypes that are associated with