In the online family tree, children are connected to a husband/wife family group (or can be added as a child of a single parent). It means that when a new spouse of one of the biological parents is added, the children of the former marriage stay with the former family group and are not shown as belonging to the new husband/wife family group.
There are several cases where you may wish to add children as adopted or stepchildren in your tree:
1. One of the child’s parents has a new spouse who has become the child’s step-parent.
2. A child has new adoptive parents (unrelated to the child’s biological parents).
3. A child has adoptive parents (while biological parents are unknown).
To show children as stepchildren of a new spouse, please take the steps described in the following example:
Mother and Father A are biological parents of a child:
If Mother has a new spouse, whom you want to add as step-father (Father B), you first should show a divorce/separation of Father A from the mother. Use the following article to learn how to do that: How do I show a divorce in my online tree?
Then you can add a new spouse (Father B) to the Mother: How do I add more than one partner in my online tree?
Once you added a new spouse to the Mother, the child will still be attached to its biological parents’ family group, and Father B’s relationship will be automatically shown as ‘step-father’ to the child.
If Father B and the Mother have their own biological child together, you can simply add child #2 to their family group.
If Father B married another spouse whom you would like to add, first divorce/separate Father B from Mother, and then add the new spouse. Then Child #2 will be shown as a stepchild for Father B’s new spouse.
If you would like to add adopting parents to a child, please use the following FAQ: How can I add multiple sets of parents (biological, adoptive, foster) to my online family tree?
If you build your family tree in Family Tree Builder, please read the following article: How do I add step-children in Family Tree Builder?
Privacy note: Adding living relatives to an online family tree requires you to obtain their prior consent. Before adding living relatives below the legal age to the family tree, you must obtain the consent of their parent or guardian.