That law gives stepparents who have been married to a child’s parent for at least two years the right to petition the court for a “resident order”, which conveys many of the same rights and responsibilities as the biological parents.

他說，通過一些年主持二婚儀式的實(shí)踐，他強(qiáng)烈地感受到孩子們的困惑和不安。（現(xiàn)在的）婚禮內(nèi)容包括給孩子頒發(fā)很特別的大獎?wù)?，婚禮目的在于慶賀“新家庭”的建立，使教會拜托原先一味譴責(zé)離婚的做法。

In years of officiating second marriages, he says, he became acutely aware of the confusion and insecurities of the children, and the ceremony—which includes a special medallion worn by the child—aims to celebrate the “new family” and move the church beyond mere condemnation of divorce.

繼親家庭所遇到的一個難題是學(xué)校和其他公共機(jī)構(gòu)通常不承認(rèn)繼父/母是合法家長；寫生注冊表，郊游批準(zhǔn)條，急癥通知單都不要繼父/母簽字，不承認(rèn)他們是家長。

One of the difficulties for stepparent is that schools and other public institutions have typically not recognized the stepparent as a legitimate parent; school registration forms, field trip permission slips, health emergency information—none of these required or acknowledged the stepparent.