A stepchild and stepmother herself, Jeannette Lofas, PhD, LCSW (http://www.stepfamily.org)is considered to be the leading authority on stepfamilies. Helping chaotic stepfamilies BLEND into successful new families for over 30 years through the Step Family Foundation, Inc. Dr. Lofas and her team have a reported 84% success rate in restoring broken stepfamilies. Jeannette’s passion for helping step families comes from a personal place. When she moved into her new husband’s home with his four adolescent daughters and her young son from a previous marriage, Jeannette observed getting along great with the girls while she was dating their father, but when they became a stepfamily, the dynamics changed dramatically. In order to mend her new family, Jeannette sought out solutions, but found there was little written on the subject of step families. Realizing she was not alone in her struggles, in 1975 Jeannette founded the Stepfamily Foundation, Inc. - the only organization to devote themselves solely to these issues. With a PhD in psychology and a background in broadcast journalism, Dr. Lofas has written five books on stepfamilies and was honored with a presidential award for her work. Listen to today’s show to find out what it takes to actually make a blended family ‘blend’.