Kevin Hoffin, a lecturer in criminology at Birmingham City University, says when stepparents abuse children in their care, there are “many pieces to that jigsaw puzzle.” “Stepparental affection and kindness can’t always be taken for granted.” He said, “I’d like to think that improved awareness of the statistical reality that children are more at risk if there’s a stepparent in the home could contribute to better decision-making by parents and by social services. Speaking to the Sun, Daly said that although it’s a painful subject, we need to look out for possible risks for some children when parents find new partners. However, stepparents are more likely to beat or bludgeon stepchildren, which researchers say could indicate more anger and resentment. Once they are past babyhood, genetic parents are more likely to kill their children as acts of revenge against co-parents or as part of psychotic episodes, often using techniques like smothering. Star Hobson was murdered by her stepmom, while her mom ignored the abuse. The method by which stepparents kill stepchildren varies too, according to studies. Possible reasons for the Cinderella Effect lie in basic biology.Įvolutionary psychologists believe that humans, like other animals, are programmed to want to look after children who carry their own genes, not someone else’s. Worryingly, according to academic research, these kids won’t be the only ones suffering at the hands of stepparents. In recent weeks, a court also heard how little Star was killed with a blow to the stomach from Savannah Brockhill, 28, the lover of her mum, Frankie Smith, 20, at their home in West Yorkshire last September. He died after sustaining an unsurvivable head injury at the hands of Tustin while his dad was out shopping in June last year. Six-year-old Arthur was not only subjected to bullying when his dad, Thomas Hughes, 29, started a relationship with Emma Tustin, 32, who forced Arthur to stand in a corridor for up to 14 hours a day at the couple’s home in Solihull, West Midlands.įor three months he was also beaten and force-fed salt. While Jane is left with lifelong psychological scars, unlike Arthur and 16-month-old Star Hobson, she survived. “My dad never seemed to notice or care, so I grew up thinking it was normal.” “From a young age, my stepmom would tell me I was the biggest problem in my dad’s life and it would be better off for him if I were dead,” she recalled. In Jane’s case, it didn’t take long for the cruelty to start. The phenomenon even has its own name, the Cinderella Effect, a nod to the evil stepmother in the classic fairy tale coined by Canadian psychology professor Martin Daly, who first studied the risks in the 1970s. Stepmothers are three times more likely to do the same. Stepdads are eight times more likely to kill children in their care, compared with genetic parents, according to research published in the journal Violence and Victims (2004). Of course, the vast majority of stepparents are loving carers who work hard to look after their partner’s children.īut as stepfamilies are now the fastest-growing kind of family in the UK - an estimated 1.15 million children are living with one - experts warn we need to be vigilant to the signs of mental or physical abuse from an incoming partner. Arthur Labinjo-Hughes was killed by his stepmom, Emma Tustin. Recently she’s been repeatedly brought to tears by harrowing footage of tragic Arthur Labinjo-Hughes hours before he died saying “no one loves me,” because it brings back painful memories of how she felt as a child. Such incidents are typical of the abuse Jane suffered from the age of 4, when her dad married again after her parents’ divorce - and her mom was not always well enough to look after her. When I finished it, she said, ‘You’ve just eaten a bunny.’ When I started crying, she laughed. I didn’t recognize the flavor of the meat, so I asked my stepmom what it was. “Another time I remember sitting down to dinner. “I screamed and cried for hours to be let out, but she kept me in there overnight. Jane, 47, an accountant from Staffordshire who did not wish to be pictured, told the Sun: “One day when I was about 11, my stepmom found me playing in the garden shed where I wasn’t supposed to be, so she locked me in. When Jane Wilson was growing up, she didn’t just learn about wicked stepmothers from fairy tales.Īs a little girl, she knew what it felt like to have one because of the cruel way she was treated by her dad’s wife. Teen Mom Farrah Abraham looks unrecognizable in MTV throwback I surprised my man by putting a positive pregnancy test in his waffles – he’s disgusted I gave birth to another woman’s baby after doctor’s IVF blunder I went on a first date with a Tinder match, it was great until their spouse showed up with their kids
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