Balancing family members’ interests regarding stepparent rights and obligations: A social policy challenge*

Abstract: Although stepparents often play important roles in their stepchildren's lives, residential stepparents generally have fewer rights than legal guardians or foster parents. U.S. law does not consistently recognize stepparents' roles, functions, rights, and obligations regarding their stepchildren. This paper examines and synthesizes diverse current stepfamily legal policies and regulations as well as legal and social science policy reform concerns. Policy recommendations related to stepparents' roles and responsibilities that would better balance various interests while promoting children's welfare and strengthening diverse family forms and relationships are offered. Key Words: family law, family policy, parental obligations, parental rights, stepfamilies. As many as one in three American children now can expect to spend some of their childhood years living with a stepparent (Seltzer, 1994), and many of them form close, enduring relationships with their stepparents (Fine, 1997; Levine, 1996). However, the role of stepparents, as well as stepparent-stepchild relationships, is largely invisible in the law (Mason, 1998; Mason, Fine, & Carnochan, 2001). In general, state family law inadequately accommodates diverse family arrangements and relationships (Gary, 2000; Hans, 2002) and often reflects negative cultural expectations of stepfamilies. Cultural beliefs about families exert a strong influence on the ways in which family members perceive themselves and expect to be regarded by others, which in turn may affect family conduct and functioning (Ganong & Coleman, 1997; Marsiglio, 2004). Family scholars identify two prevailing perspectives regarding how societies view stepfamilies: (a) as incomplete institutions to be ignored (Cherlin, 1978) and (b) as stigmatized groups, less functional and more problematic than nuclear families (Ganong & Coleman). It is believed that both deficit-based perspectives can hinder stepfamily development and functioning (Ganong & Coleman). In contrast to a deficit perspective, a normative-adaptive perspective of families acknowledges diverse functional family relationships and forms (Ganong & Coleman). Such an approach emphasizes social and economic mutual interdependency among members as the central underlying characteristic of family rather than legal or blood ties (Gary; Younger, 1996). This paper is informed by a normative-adaptive perspective of stepfamilies in terms of its emphasis on legal reform and a more flexible and inclusive notion of family (Young, 1998). It is outside the scope of this discussion to articulate fully how legal policies may or may not directly and indirectly impact stepfamily roles and behavior; however, as an initial caveat, it is commonly accepted that stepfamily members can be oblivious to or ignore official legal parameters in their daily lives. For example, informal (extrajudicial) custody or visitation agreements may be arranged by parents after divorce that depart widely from the official parenting plan approved by the court (Fox & Blanton, 1995). Purpose and Organization The purpose of this paper is twofold: (a) to review key elements of legal and social science literature pertaining to stepparents' roles and responsibilities, and (b) to develop empirically derived policy reform strategies that would balance various stepfamily members' interests while promoting children's welfare and strengthening diverse family forms and relationships. Relative to these purposes, the review is organized around several areas of emphasis. First, basic legal processes and traditions that highlight how family law appears to resist formal recognition of stepparents are summarized (Bartlett, 1999). Next, legal issues pertaining to stepparents' current rights and obligations to their stepchildren both within marriage and in the event of its dissolution are considered. Legally recognized options to clarify stepparents' rights and responsibilities are addressed, including stepchild adoption. …