this site is heartless. people out there need to realize that YES a STEPPARENT can be a awesome experience, i had a step mother and she was a very big and great influence on MY life. i only wish to do the same. i do not make any of the decisions. but I am in his life weather the mother likes it or not. whoever replied to this must be against ex husbands moving on! don't hate on girlfriends or "STEPMOTHERS" we can make an impact on a childs life also....wake up its 2009, things are different now.
I AM a stepfather. For the last 10 years, I have raised another man's child as my own... with as much love, frustration and passion as I could muster.
However, legally, you and I have the same legal rights to her. I cannot sign for school or for medical care. I am not her father and, if my wife and I divorce, have no continuing input into her life that the father and mother don't give me.
Things are no different. You are still a legal stranger to the child... as am I. I have no say in any legal aspect of her life. None. No if's, and's buts' or even if's.
Further, your intrusion as "mommy" could seriously impact the amount of time the father of the child has... because a meddling stepparent can be seen, correctly, as an intrusion into the protected domain of the child's legal parents.
In every way that matters from a legal aspect, step parents lose... out of hand.