미국법상 비혈연아동에 대한 부양원리 - 재혼 가족을 중심으로 -

Children can not support themselves with their own labor force. Therefore, a child poverty is strongly influenced by how social security policy and family structure are well organized. Cause Korea and the U.S.A. are classed as the nations which spend small sums of money on child welfare compared with the western and northern european countries, family support system might greatly impact on child poverty. Supposing that viewpoint, this paper deals with the principles of private providing for the child without a blood tie. Basically Korea and the U.S.A. count the blood tie as the most important standard defining the family and it is parent’d duty to support their child with a blood tie. However, in some cases the American courts impose the duty supporting the children to the legal father who has no blood tie with them on the basis of the equitable estoppel, if he knew the fact at the moment of the marriage, he accepted them as his own into his family voluntarily, he promised to support them, and he avouched himself as a father to them. Furthermore, remarriage rate in the U.S.A. is staggering and reaches over 40% from all marriage rate. Taking into account it, many states put the duty of supporting stepchild to the stepparent through the legislation, while stepfamily relationship is maintained. Finally, even if the stepparent did not adopt their stepchild, in some cases the stepparent must support their stepchild on the basis of maintaining the status of loco parentis, if the stepparent accept the stepchild into their family, promise to support him and such an expression is causative of the cutting the possibility that the stepchild builds the relationship with their biological father and receives care and support.