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Speak Up! - View Question #152 |
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Question: What rights do stepparents have in the care of step-kids?
Answer: Stepparents have no specific rights over their stepchildren. The biological parent has decision-making authority over the children in all matters related to the child's health and upbringing. In other words, the stepparent can't consent to medical care, can't sign paperwork for school, etc.
A stepparent who has acted as parent for a child for a long time, and who is now being divorced from the biological parent, may have some visitation rights if a judge decides the relationship is in the child's best interests.
Even though the stepparent has no rights relative to the child, if the stepparent is a custodian of the child, that adult can make certain control / discipline decisions affecting the child in the absence of a biological parent. A stepmother, for example, who is taking care of the child during the father's absence on a business trip, can set curfew, mealtimes, and other rules that affect childhood discipline while the child is in the care of that adult.
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| Comments |
| 46 thru 50 of 91 comments |
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On 06/04/07
HJ from WA said:
I am have been a step mother for over 8 years now and I am so frustrated with the lack of rights for step parents. You are expected to be a parent in every facet but you have no rights what so ever to help these children should something arise. They take in to account my salary for child support, why can't I provide counseling? Our system does not care about the rights of the children and what is in there best interest. Things need to change for the children!
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On 01/08/07
Dawn from KY said:
I am a step mom of a 11 year old girl she has been in my life since she was 5. She really wants to live with me and her dad but her mom won't let her. She moved my step daughter in with her grandma caus eshe is always on drugs and in trouble and stuff we dont have the money to get a lawyer and don't know what to do we called social services and went through court with them for a year the mother passed 2 drug test out of 25 and got her back. My husband passed them all. I feel helpless as a stepmom cause I can't do anything the child has been moved over 40 times in the past 3 years. i need help.
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On 07/10/06
Mandy from WI said:
I am a very proud step-mom of a wonderful 10 year old girl. I have been with her since she was 3. This girl has been to hell and back with her birth-mother. I feel that I am her mom. She wants nothing to do with her but is forced by the courts to have visits. She hates it and I am always there to pick up the pieces. Her father chooses not to deal with most things or askes me to handle them. I am so very frustrated because I am considering leaving her father, but I am so torn because I am worried about what will happen to her.
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On 06/27/06
April from FL said:
My son is 5 yrs old. He has been calling my boyfriend Daddy since he was 3. My ex doesn't see him unless it's convient for him. He does not pay child support. I have recently started wondering what is going to happen to my son if something happens to me. My ex is mixed up in drugs and lives with three roommates, sleeping on a couch. His mom has been arrested for drugs also. He has more rights to my son they the man that is raising him. There needs to be some type of right that is given to them. I don't want my son taken out of the only place that he calls home.
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On 04/18/06
matt from CA said:
I've been apart of Madisons life since she was a 1.5. She is now 9. She calls me dad, uses my last name even though I never adopted her. Her mother and I recently divorced and I was seeing her every now and then. Recently the bio dad is back in the pic after being absent for 9 years. He and my ex have formed an alliance and to add insult to injury he told me I was a looser. Anyway I was told that if I have been around for 7 years and paid for medical etc I do have some rights. But then I'm not sure. Does anyone know. I just want visitation for a couple days a week so she can be w/her brothers.
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