ABSTRACT
The purpose of this handout is to help adults and children adjust throughout the stages of stepfamily development. These guidelines provide a psychoeducational tool for therapists to use to help clients become aware of and avoid some of the common problems and pitfalls that plague many stepfamilies. Many adults enter into stepfamilies expecting children to share the same excitement about the new relationship that they do, while children may see the new marriage as a loss, not necessarily as a happy event. There is a minority for whom the transition to a stepfamily goes smoothly; this chapter is written for the majority of families who are faced with making a vast life transition with children who have burgeoning emotions.
