FAMILY-CENTERED PRACTICE WITH STEPFAMILIES

The stepfamily is one of the fastest growing family forms, and family- centered practitioners can expect to have such families in their case loads. Differences between stepfamilies and biologically based familie s need to be understood by practitioners, because work with these fami lies requires different approaches. The author notes these differences as well as the usefulness and problematic aspects of the systemic and behavioral approaches traditionally wed by family-centered practition ers in work with stepfamilies. An integrated model for working with st epfamilies, developed by the author, is presented. This model integrat es postmodern approaches into eco-systemic and behavioral work.