Abstract

Stepfamilies have been around for a long time and they are unlikely to go away. They are one of the fastest growing family types in industrial nations. Stepfamilies are complex and diverse: there are new levels of kin and new interaction patterns. This paper seeks to highlight that there is a practical urgency to address such matters about stepfamily because there is little awareness of stepfamily issue at a policy level. Excluding collection of information on stepfamilies re-affirms their invisibility and reinforce the notion that their situation is a private matter and not a public concern.