The Cinderella Effect

Following a number of high profile cases of children abused by step parents Camilla Cavendish writes about the Cinderella Effect, the name given to analysis in Canada, the US and Britain which suggests that children are at far greater risk from stepfathers and non-blood “relatives” than from natural parents.

• Canadian research over 20 years has put the risk of being killed by a stepparent at between 50 to 100 times greater than the risk of being killed by a parent.

• A 1989 study by the University of Iowa found non-biological fathers four times more likely than natural fathers to sexually abuse children in their care.

• In Britain, NSPCC research has found that children living with biological parents are between 20 and 33 times safer than those living in any other type of household

If the figures are correct, the article continues, by far the most effective check on abuse is the real family and biological fathers.

Full article Source The Times 8 May 2009