One Day
Stepping Together: Smart Steps for Stepfamilies
Francesca Adler-Baeder, PhD, CFLE
Half of all marriages in a year are remarriages for one or both partners. Most of
these involve children from previous relationships. Additionally, many first marriages
form stepfamilies. Current estimates are that one-half of all Americans will be in
a step relationship in their lifetime. The estimates are higher for low-resource families
and for African American families.Never has there been a greater need to offer a
program in your community that provides information and skills necessary for
healthy stepfamily functioning. If stepfamilies are served with programming
designed for first families, educators run the risk of leaving out important
information at best, and at worst, of providing misinformation that could
undermine healthy stepfamily functioning

What is Stepping Together?
Stepping Together: Smart Steps for Adults and Children in Stepfamilies is a
research-based program developed through a collaboration between the Stepfamily
Association of America and Cornell Cooperative Extension in NY. The program
provides a comprehensive educational base that recognizes the complexities and the
interdependent nature of relationships within stepfamilies. The 6-week (12 hour)
program is designed to involved parents and children ages 6-16 living in stepfamilies.
Separate sessions are held concurrently. Lessons are interactive and involve media,
discussion and hands-on activities and exercises.

Who should take this training?
This one-day training institute is for anyone involved in meeting the needs of stepcouples
in marriage and family life education: Family life educators, military family services
personnel, mental health professionals, religious family service providers. You will receive
everything you need to implement the program.

Institute participants will receive:
- Leader's guides for both the adult and children sessions
- CD rom with PowerPoint presentations for adult sessions
- Masters of participant hand-outs
- DVD with stepfamily vignettes
- DVD of the movies, "Stepmom" (clips are used in the program).

Why should you offer this program in your community?
Here’s what we know from research:

<>1. Half of marriages each year are remarriages for one or both partners; most involve children.
Many first marriages form stepfamilies, especially for low-income couples.
Over half of Americans today are or will be in a step relationship in their lifetime.

2. Stepfamilies are more complex than first families and can operate differently in many ways.

3. Healthy models of stepfamilies are rare in the larger media, and sociocultural norms do
not exist regarding stepfamily roles; therefore, work is necessary in each newly-formed
stepfamily to jointly establish roles and rules that work for that family.

4. Few formal institutional supports exist regarding stepfamilies and the stepparent-stepchild
relationships. Informal institutional supports for stepfamilies are rare as well. Stepfamily
members require awareness of these conditions and suggestions for advocating for stepfamily support.

5. The marital relationship in a stepfamily is the newest and most vulnerable relationship
in the family, requiring special attention and skill development. Indications are that
dyadic spillover of conflict in other relationships may negatively affect the stepcouple relationship.

6. Most children in stepfamilies have a parent in another home and these parents may have
multiple co-parents. These inter-household relationship impact the stepcouple relationship.

7. Empathy is a learned behavior and an important element in healthy relationships and is
especially important in stepfamilies where individuals have different backgrounds and family histories.

8. Many stepparents are not biological parents and have comparatively less child
development and parenting skills knowledge.

9. Successful stepparenting develops differently than successful parenting.

10. Stepfamilies are potentially more stressful environments that first families due to complexities
and unique stressors.

Based on a thorough review of the research literature on stepfamilies, themes were gleaned and
used to build the topics in the program for the adults and the children: Most of these topics are not
included in "general" marriage and family life education. Specific information regarding serving
ethnic minority stepfamilies also will be offered in the training institute.

In this institute you’ll learn how to teach the course. Your program participants will:

- Strengthen their marital relationship
- Be validated in their experiences as a stepfamily.
- Enhance their skills for adjusting to change
- Improve their knowledge of legal and financial issues in stepfamilies
- Better define family roles
- Improve their knowledge of child development and positive parenting skills
- Understand and be able to use empathy and the concept of shared meaning
- Enhance their communication skills in the family and in co-parenting relationships
- Understand and be able to use conflict management skills
- Practice healthy and respectful behaviors towards others in their family

Participant Evaluations for Stepping Together: Smart Steps for Adults and Children in Stepfamilies:

"It was really helpful to feel ‘normal’ in our struggles…we learned some important skills and
changed our expectations about a lot of things in our family…that was really helpful!"

One child reported:
"…I love going to ‘Step’ class…I wish it wouldn’t end..I think I helped some other kids think
about their stepparent in a different way and I liked talking to them about my family."

A new stepparent reported that class helped him:
"…understand that work has to be done to nurture all the relationships in the stepfamily
since they all affect our marriage ? and our marriage makes the family."

For additional information, contact Francesca Adler-Baeder, instructor and program developer at
adlerfr@auburn.edu

This institute is part of the week-long Smart Marriages conference.

Register for the Institute and the Conference: Click for Information on Conference Details, to download a conference brochure, REGISTER ONLINE, hotel & travel information & discounts, etc.

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