Group founder, webmaster and accidental stepdad Gerardo Campbell has packed his highly-successful website at Support for Stepdads with expressive poetry and heart-felt quotes that stimulated most of nearly 17 million hits last year.

Campbell says although stepfamilies are the dominant family structure in the US today, many members incorrectly assume their stepfamily will function as a traditional or nuclear family and are therefore ill-equipped to deal with issues unique to blended families.

As a result, the divorce rate in American stepfamilies is rising towards 70 percent. With Support for Stepdads, Campbell aims to help reverse that trend by providing commonsense solutions to stepfamily problems and offering simple ways for people to honor their step relations.

Some children, said Campbell, may resist relating to a stepparent as their subconscious tells them this would be disloyal to an absent biological parent.

“A stepchild might instinctively behave resentfully or even aggressively towards his mom’s new partner,” said Campbell. “The stepchild might be grieving the absence or death of a biological father and begrudge having to relocate and change schools.

“Life’s not fair and someone is to blame. In this case the stepdad is the easy target.

“The mom feels for her son’s upheaval and she regrets the pressure his behavior places on her partner and their relationship.”

Campbell’s data tells him moms like this and adult stepdaughters turn to Support for Stepdads for poems and quotes that show they understand and care.

“The chances are that one day a stepchild will need help to get out of trouble and the stepdad will be there for him,” he said.

“Unfortunately, it’s often only when a stepparent assumes the role of parent and steps up to manage a crisis that a stepchild realizes the person is an asset deserving of recognition.

“A stepdaughter might one day acknowledge somebody is paying her college tuition and board, phone and entertainment bills. It’s the stepfather and she needs a way to say thanks.”

Guest author Deniece is one of many at Support for Stepdads who shares her words for others to use to pay tribute to stepparents. In My Rock, My Stepdad, she writes:

“My Stepdad never tried to be my dad – he knew I had one of those. He just tried to be my rock … and he does that better than anybody.”

The website launched in 2011 as a resource for struggling stepdads is now helping all members of blended families to express their appreciation and love for each other with its poems and quotes for stepfathers, stepmothers, stepchildren and stepsiblings.

In its two-year life, Support for Stepdads has achieved a global reach with more than 3.89 million hits, or 23.27 percent of almost 17 million hits in 2012 coming from outside the US, positioning the site as significant US Ambassador for the Family.

Support for Stepfathers is an interactive and provocative on-line community packed with Campbell’s often entertaining words of wisdom, humor, great gift ideas, valuable links and the site’s most popular pages of stepfamily poetry and quotes.

Gerardo Campbell needs help to maintain and improve this valuable resource, especially by commissioning poets and other writers to contribute. If you’d like to help, log on to Support for Stepdads to donate. Every little bit helps.

About Support for Stepfathers:

Support for Stepfathers is a community forum and support group addressing issues that contribute to the approaching 70 percent failure rate of blended marriages in the US. It strives to smooth the path for the one-third of all Americans and those around the world in stepfamilies. It offers practical advice, experience, inspirational poetry and quotes, humor and interaction at Support for Stepdads.