National charity Care for the Family has launched a new special course designed to help engaged couples with children from previous relationships think through some of the issues that will arise as they form a stepfamily.

Stepfamilies are the fastest-growing family type in the UK, and it is predicted that by 2010 there will be more children living in a stepfamily than in a biological family.

Currently four in ten marriages is a remarriage for at least one of the adults and there are around one million dependent stepchildren under 16 years old.

The new course, From This Step Forward, has been created to make up for the lack of suitable marriage preparation material currently available in the UK that is specifically tailored for those who are starting a stepfamily.

Christine Tufnell, Care for the Family's stepfamily project manager, is delighted that From This Step Forward is now available.