About Us
The Stepfamily Foundation, Inc., provides counseling for the stepfamily / blended family, divorce counseling, remarriage counseling and stepfamily certification seminars. The Stepfamily Foundation Inc., headquartered in New York City, is a not for profit, 501(c)(3) organization founded in 1975. We provide counseling in person and on the telephone worldwide. As an educational institution chartered by the State of New York the Stepfamily Foundation provides Certification Seminars for professionals and coaches.
Jeannette Lofas, Ph.D, LCSW is President and Founder of Stepfamily Foundation, Inc. She has been managing stepfamilies for thirty years. In 1995 Lofas received a presidential award for her work. Research reports that she has an 84% success rate. A stepchild and stepmother herself, she is considered to be the leading authority on stepfamilies. Dr. Lofas has written five books: Living In Step, McGraw-Hill, Stepparenting, Citadel, How to Be a Stepparent, Nightingale Connant; He's OK, She's OK: Honoring the Differences Between Men & Women, and Tzedakah, Family Rules, Kensington Books.
Dr. Lofas is passionate about diminishing the high divorce rate of stepfamilies (2 out of 3). And, the after affects of divorce on children. Lofas is expert with children and couples.
Traditional marriage and family counselors are trained to work with the biological family. They are not trained in the complexities of the stepfamily. The result is that 66% fail, 84% of The Stepfamily Foundation, Inc. clients succeed.
Telephone clients are U.S. and worldwide based. Surveys indicate that telephone clients complete faster than in person clients.
64% of families today live in some form of divorced and/or stepfamily relationship. They are:
Jeannette Lofas, Ph.D, LCSW is President and Founder of Stepfamily Foundation, Inc. She has been managing stepfamilies for thirty years. In 1995 Lofas received a presidential award for her work. Research reports that she has an 84% success rate. A stepchild and stepmother herself, she is considered to be the leading authority on stepfamilies. Dr. Lofas has written five books: Living In Step, McGraw-Hill, Stepparenting, Citadel, How to Be a Stepparent, Nightingale Connant; He's OK, She's OK: Honoring the Differences Between Men & Women, and Tzedakah, Family Rules, Kensington Books.
Dr. Lofas is passionate about diminishing the high divorce rate of stepfamilies (2 out of 3). And, the after affects of divorce on children. Lofas is expert with children and couples.
Traditional marriage and family counselors are trained to work with the biological family. They are not trained in the complexities of the stepfamily. The result is that 66% fail, 84% of The Stepfamily Foundation, Inc. clients succeed.
Telephone clients are U.S. and worldwide based. Surveys indicate that telephone clients complete faster than in person clients.
64% of families today live in some form of divorced and/or stepfamily relationship. They are:
- The Original Family
- Husband and Wife. Recent research proves that much of our methodology also works well with the original couple.
- The Divorced Family
- Custodial parents, parents who visit, and their new partners.
- The Re-Coupled, or Stepfamily
- Formed when one are both partners have children from prior marriage: these children are residential or visiting.
- The Promises of the Stepfamily Foundation
- You and your partner will:
- Create powerful agreements to work together
- Respect and honor your differences on issues such as discipline, rules, manners, responsibilities and expectations
- Create a powerful team
- Manage “the ex” without rancor and upset
- Handle visits that are smooth and predictable
What We Do
"Every society is governed by hidden laws." - James Baldwin
The stepfamily system is compelled by the unexplained and unexpected. The laws, the rational, governing this system for most remains illusive and unknown. This ignorance causes two-thirds of stepfamilies to break up. These divorces wound the psyche of adults, and especially children.
I know of not one person on planet who has spend 30 plus years researching, working with writing books uncovering the hidden laws of the stepfamily or blended family.
We we teach you how to make your stepfamily work.
"It started as unusual became disturbing. We were talking divorce. Dr. Lofas saved our stepfamily."
We recognize the dynamics and alter the typical outcomes:
The stepfamily system is compelled by the unexplained and unexpected. The laws, the rational, governing this system for most remains illusive and unknown. This ignorance causes two-thirds of stepfamilies to break up. These divorces wound the psyche of adults, and especially children.
I know of not one person on planet who has spend 30 plus years researching, working with writing books uncovering the hidden laws of the stepfamily or blended family.
We we teach you how to make your stepfamily work.
- 84 % of our families succeed.
"It started as unusual became disturbing. We were talking divorce. Dr. Lofas saved our stepfamily."
We recognize the dynamics and alter the typical outcomes:
- Disrespect... to respect
- Rejection... to accepting
- Lack of discipline... to order
- The conflict of loyalties....to respect of our differences
- Feeling like an outsider... to couple strength.
How we work: our methodology
"Today’s Family, in our culture, is the most unstable, most diverse, most confounding…"
Jeannette Lofas Ph. D., LCSW
Founder of The Stepfamily Foundation
"The Stepfamily is labeled as: unstable, confounding, a patchwork, a crazy quilt of confusing behaviors... an unsolved problem."
The stepfamily can be a blessing and a benefit to children and to partners. We must discern it's differences and know it's secret systems.
As therapists we are trained in the basic precepts of psychology and family psychology. We make of use some of this. Most of our graduate school therapy courses did not, and still do not, address the complex stepfamily interactions. For over thirty years we have studied, researched and learned from our clients. Thus, we have architected a new and successful model of working with stepfamilies.
Our work is supported by substantial research involving more than 5000 individuals.
The therapy we use is educational. We teach that the step system can not and will not function as does a biologically related family. We work with couples how to communicate and partner in the complex context of step. We use the precepts of business management.
We ask each partner to define their vision and wishes as to their criteria and just how do they want the family to function. We coach couples to communicate and to respect each other's worldview. Our model is positive and forward-looking. By honoring differences and supporting the couple's love, we merge diverse systems, protocols, child rearing practices and beliefs about the world and God.
We ask each partner to describe his/her point of view on issues. We honor both. We then mediate and merge these realities, and our knowledge, to create a functioning and orderly stepfamily system.
Using the business model we create an action plan, define job descriptions - roles, rules, responsibilities, and contributions of each member of the in-house family and the visiting children. We ask about the allocation of time, energy, and money from each partner's point of view. We build couple strength, partnership and teach our specific communication skills. We solve issues of discipline, manners, visitation, the prior spouse, co-parenting and much more.
We create a positive action plan, accomplish a task, and work to obtain a solution at each session.
Most clients complete their work in about 5 - 8 sessions, with about 10 hours of homework.
Jeannette Lofas Ph. D., LCSW
Founder of The Stepfamily Foundation
"The Stepfamily is labeled as: unstable, confounding, a patchwork, a crazy quilt of confusing behaviors... an unsolved problem."
The stepfamily can be a blessing and a benefit to children and to partners. We must discern it's differences and know it's secret systems.
As therapists we are trained in the basic precepts of psychology and family psychology. We make of use some of this. Most of our graduate school therapy courses did not, and still do not, address the complex stepfamily interactions. For over thirty years we have studied, researched and learned from our clients. Thus, we have architected a new and successful model of working with stepfamilies.
Our work is supported by substantial research involving more than 5000 individuals.
The therapy we use is educational. We teach that the step system can not and will not function as does a biologically related family. We work with couples how to communicate and partner in the complex context of step. We use the precepts of business management.
We ask each partner to define their vision and wishes as to their criteria and just how do they want the family to function. We coach couples to communicate and to respect each other's worldview. Our model is positive and forward-looking. By honoring differences and supporting the couple's love, we merge diverse systems, protocols, child rearing practices and beliefs about the world and God.
We ask each partner to describe his/her point of view on issues. We honor both. We then mediate and merge these realities, and our knowledge, to create a functioning and orderly stepfamily system.
Using the business model we create an action plan, define job descriptions - roles, rules, responsibilities, and contributions of each member of the in-house family and the visiting children. We ask about the allocation of time, energy, and money from each partner's point of view. We build couple strength, partnership and teach our specific communication skills. We solve issues of discipline, manners, visitation, the prior spouse, co-parenting and much more.
We create a positive action plan, accomplish a task, and work to obtain a solution at each session.
Most clients complete their work in about 5 - 8 sessions, with about 10 hours of homework.
