THE NEW STEPFAMILY REQUIRES A NEW PUBLIC-POLICY

About one-fourth of all children born in the 1980s will live with a st epparent before they reach legal adulthood. Despite the prevalence of stepfamilies and their importance in nurturing children and protecting them from poverty, they have been largely ignored in stare and federa l policy. In this article we first analyze demographic data, focusing on the supportive yet fragile stepparent-stepchild relationship. Secon d, we review existing state and federal stepparent policies, with a cr itical eye to their shortcomings. Finally, we propose a new conceptual ization of the stepparent-stepchild relationship in which stepchildren receive the same protections under law as do natural children, and ir i: which stepparents who ave functioning as de facto parents have the same rights and obligations as do natural parents, and a limited set o f rights and obligations should the marriage terminate.