A Profile for Blended and Step Family in Canada - Research Paper Example

 A Profile For Blended And Step Family In Canada A blended family or a stepfamily in which one of the parents or both have a child or children from the previous relationship, who they live with. The children in this case are not related genetically to the other parent. The new spouse to the biological parent of these children refers to them as stepchildren – stepdaughter or stepson. The children refer to the spouse of the biological parent as stepfather or stepmother. A son to a stepparent who the stepchildren are not related to are stepbrothers to the children, while the daughters are stepsisters (Deal, 2002). According to the census carried out in 2011 in Canada, the number of step families in the country is increasingly common. Statistics show that blended families are becoming the norm of the country. According to census in 2011 on living arrangements and families in Canada, stepfamilies were counted for the first time, and they were found to be an eighth of couple of families that have children. These findings were attributed to the rising rates of divorce cases in the country. From that research, there were 464,335 stepfamilies, which accounted for 12.6% of about 3,700,000 couple of families who have children. The other 3,200,000 couple families were considered to be intact with biological children or adopted. Furthermore, 271,930 families of the stepfamilies, which accounts for 7.4% of the total families, were found to be simple stepfamilies where all the children are either biological or adopted by one of the parents, who their births came before the current relationship. The remaining 5.2%, which accounts for 192,410 stepfamilies were found to be complex, which has all the other stepfamilies apart from the simple stepfamilies. Nevertheless, the stepfamilies mentioned above are able to provide shelter for over a half a million children who are under the age of 14 years (“Preview of census products and services, census year 2011,” 2012). Stepfamilies and blended families face many challenges. A thriving and successful step family requires a lot of input and effort to make it that way. Each of the family members doesface adjustments, which are complicated, to the new situations of the family. As a matter of fact, the family is usually formed by members who have neither shared history nor memories, with different backgrounds and different beliefs. This therefore makes it hard for the members to become compatible. Some other trouble may arise if a child did not know that he or she was a step child, and later realizes that one of them is not his or her parent. This is most likely to cause strange reactions from the child. In other cases, a child may direct his angers to one particular member of the family, or openly disregard a stepparent. Besides this, one of the parents may have increased stress because of the needs of the child, which are increasing. A parent may also develop favor towards one of the children than others. A step parent can also decide to leave the responsibility of a stepchild to the biological parent alone, rather than both parents taking part in the affairs of the children. These among other challenges are commonly faced in stepfamilies (Cartwright, 2012). Most of these challenges can be avoided and taken care of in the family level. The parents should discuss the issues pertaining the family and strive in making it better. When most families blend, there are high chances of negative issues (Deal, 2002). Most of these families just require time to adjust. As this happens, it is important for the parents to set new foundations for the new family. This, though, should be done in a slow manner. At times, counseling sessions may be useful, especially when some of the challenges cannot be solved locally at home (Cartwright, 2012). Many Canadian Organizations have come up in support of these families. A few of them have been named here (“Canadian Equal Shared Parenting Groups Directory,” n.d.). Stepfamilies Association. It is located on 241 Bowood Avenue, Toronto, ON and is led by Terry O’Brien. The mandate is to provide education resource in Toronto area for all step relatives. Human Equality Action and Resource Team (HEART) It is a self-help group which offers divorce and separation solutions. It is located at 2A The Marketplace, Toronto, ON, M4C 5M1 and the telephone number is (416) 410-4141. Help Us Get Support This is an organization led by Brandon King and it is located at R.R. 2, Sunderland, ON. Their mandate is to help divorced parents, grandparents, stepparents and prevent them from making mistakes in their families and with their children. Family Conflict Resolution Services This is an organization whose program coordinator is Vernon Beck. It is located on Oakville, ON, L6J 7P5. The telephone number is (905) 829-0407. Its mandate is to provide training and programs and to provide several services, which relate to high conflict families. Active Parenting This is an organization, which is led by Maria Perrino whose telephone number is (905) 435-0352. It is located at 75 Richmond St. West in Oshawa, ON L1G 1E3. It is a program which provides video based teachings which enhances good communication at home between the parents and children Finally, it is important that as the family members relate, they check on some things to ensure a good relationship. It is important for the stepparent to realize that he or she may not be embraced and loved by the stepchildren once at first sight. He or she should take it slow and nurture the relationship slowly. Besides this, it is also important that respect is capitalized on and kept paramount so that the relationship should not affect this. All the members of the house should also realize that this is a new family, and it may not turn out to be exactly like their previous one. Therefore, no set expectations should be there that might lead to disappointments. The new family should be built under a foundation that is new, and each family member should know that this might take some time to materialize and therefore, they should not be in such a hurry to get used to each other (Deal, 2002). Reference Canadian Equal Shared Parenting Groups Directory. (n.d.). Ontario -Canada divorce support Groups, Directory. Retrieved October 14, 2014, from http://www.canadianequalparentinggroups.ca/Ontario_Fathers_Rights-Equal_Shared_Parenting_Groups-Directory.aspx Cartwright, C. (2012). The Challenges of Being a Mother in a Stepfamily. Journal of Divorce & Remarriage, 53(6), 503-513. Deal, R. L. (2002). The smart stepfamily. Minneapolis, Minn.: Bethany House. Preview of census products and services, census year 2011 (Modified on Feb. 1, 2012. Ed.). (2012). Ottawa: Statistics Canada. Read More