S
smh33
Guest
The reason steps have no legal rights is because it is not the step's bio child. Divorce, separation does not mean one gives up thier fundamental rights as a parent...the adults parted,ended a relation..not the parent and child. Also, as much concern as there is over steps and liability for cs......if steps want a legal say they must also accept the other legal obligations, such as liability of child's financial support,etc...Mainly though, because a step chose a relationship with the adult parent, this does not afford any rights to the child and what a mess it would be if step and bio divorced. You just have to think if you are a step feeling you deserve legal rights to a sc, would you reversely feel that your bio child's step should have any legal rights over your bio child simply because they chose your ex as a partner? Courts support steps staying out of things because courts feel otherwise it is creating a situation that advocates a bio parent not being involved...courts do not want to see steps pursuing the best interest of a child as that is bio parents obligation and let's face it...there are many parents who would be happy to release thier parental obligation to someone else...they don't want to see stepmoms in court against a bio mom requesting more visitation for bio dad. I think it is different for stepmoms vs. stepdads simply due to the accepted standard of man = provider & woman is caretaker of home,family. I can definately see how for a step mom the parenting responsibility is greater than for a stepdad which is probably why we see so many sm post and few sd posts...the woman is more involved daily with the actual parenting role. Also women,childen,emotions...you know. I say it is great for sm to have loving,parent like relation w/ a schild,especially if it is the custodial home but must always respect that as a step, you are not the bm. And you would not want a 3rd party to step on your toes if you were the bm. I think as far as a sm's input,doing things for child...partly sm has to look to dad for that issue as it is dad placing that demand of your efforts, not the bm. People can blast me for this but men are runners and women are generally more fighters...so I think sometimes the underlying conflict results from dad being passive and once sm enters picture...she offers input to dad and motivates dad to 'fight' some existing issues...this of course does not sit well with bm. Also for those women who can't move on, think it is thorn in side to see another woman have influence over the man, influence perhaps they never had.