Great Guest:
What happens when the stepmother isn’t evil?

You love your stepchildren as though they were your own: you help them learn their multiplication tables, cheer them on at the soccer field, and stay up all night to nurse a fever of 104.  Then, you divorce their father.

In most cases, you’ll never see them again.

“Millions of American women wind up being the primary caregivers of someone else’s children, although most states have not yet recognized or granted them legal rights to their stepchildren.”

A new novel, Fifteen Minutes of Shame (Plume/Penguin, April 2008) shines a light on the most hotly-debated topic in family law today: stepparents rights. 

The main character in Fifteen Minutes of Shame, Darby Vaughn, is a celebrity relationships guru who goes through a very public divorce, and hopes to claim custody of her stepchildren, whom she has grown to love.   This is an issue affecting millions of stepparents across the country, and while some states are beginning to recognize the rights of stepparents as ”psychological parents”, most states give stepparents no rights at all.

Fast fact: 23% of children in the U.S. are being raised by a stepparent. (19.4 million)

Fifteen Minutes of Shame author Lisa Daily and celebrity divorce attorney John Mayoue provide commentary and insight on this hot topic that affects millions of families in the US.

About the author: Lisa Daily is a real-life TV relationships expert, author of the bestselling dating advice book Stop Getting Dumped!  and a popular media guest and source seen everywhere from the New York Times to iVillage Live. Fifteen Minutes of Shame  is her first novel.  For more, visit www.lisadaily.com

John Mayoue (www.johnmayoue.com) is a celebrity lawyer who’s handled divorce cases for such notables as sports star David Justice (from Halle Berry), Marianne Gingrich and Jane Fonda.  Mayoue is an experienced national media guest and a pioneer in the emerging field of stepparents rights.

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