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One third of families include step-children

Thirty per cent of UK families include a child from a previous relationship, a new report claims.

The figure is based on interviews with a representative sample of 20,000 people and amounts to nearly two million children, according to the report from insurance firm Aviva. Just under half the adults surveyed said they had had at least one previous serious relationship. One in six has had two, and one in twenty has had three or more.

One third of the such families receive no financial help from the child’s absent parent, the report notes, while an additional third receive only occasional child support payments. Only one quarter of families with step children receive regular payments from the absent parent.

Aviva’s Sarah Poulter said: “This research shows that there is no ‘normal’ family any more. What was seen as the traditional model is becoming more and more diverse. It is now quite usual for a child to have three parents, and to live in a family that includes step-parents, half-brothers and half- sisters.”

The blog team at Stowe is a group of writers based across our family law offices who share their advice on the wellbeing and emotional aspects of divorce or separation from personal experience. As well as pieces from our family law solicitors, guest contributors also regularly contribute to share their knowledge.

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Comments(2)

  1. Tristan says:

    The rise and rise of the patchwork family, assisted notably by ongoing UK social policy and law that basically pushes men away from their natural children.

  2. David Mortimer says:

    Hi Marilyn,

    Please will you kindly tell me why you think the NSPCC ignored its own research which showed mothers are more violent & why they said there was no evidence the courts discriminate against men when the House of Commons Library records show that for every category of offence, men are more likely to be sent to prison than women.

    Best regards Dave

    https://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200506/cmhansrd/vo060302/debtext/60302-18.htm

    https://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201213/cmhansrd/cm121016/halltext/121016h0002.htm

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