Books by Author Barbara LeBey

ReMarried with Children: Ten Secrets for Successfully Blending Your Family
It might not be the kind of family you dreamed about when your were younger, but it's the one you have: with your kids and/or his kids, a couple of exes, maybe one or two of their exes, multiple homes, complicated schedules, conflicting loyalties, and financial arrangements that defy the law of supply and demand. Welcome to the new American family!

It's the most daunting task many parent will ever face: bringing two growing families together into one brand-new marriage. Even though statistics show that most remarriages are at high risk—especially when there are kids involved—more and more people are learning how to make them work and more and more kids are coming out of them with their psyches and souls intact. This honest and hopeful book looks at those successes—and at some failures—to show what they have in common: ten essential secrets that are at the heart of a healthily blended family.

Drawing on extensive interviews and new research, Barbara LeBey shows how to navigate the stresses, sticking points, pitfalls, and perils most couples don't even anticipate, including how to:

• Meet your children's and stepchildren's needs—without letting them undermine your new marriage
• Understand the new roles, rules, and relationships for children and stepchildren of a blended family
• Deal with angry and/or manipulative exes—without adding fuel to the fire
• Handle key decisions about finances, religion, traditions, behavior, and discipline
• Maintain healthy relationships with your children's relatives from a previous marriage
• Recognize warning signs of trouble ahead—and get the help you need.

Filled with the hard-won advice of child psychologists, family counselors, and men and women on the front lines, ReMarried with Children is an expert, compassionate, down-to-earth book to turn to over and over again for advice, support, and sanity when you need it most.


Family Estrangements: How They Begin, How to Mend Them, How to Cope with Them

Divorce; disputes over inheritances, family business, or elder care. Rifts over marriage partners, career choices, or sexual orientation--these are just some of the many ways that even close families can break apart. Yet this all-too-common and often devastating family problem, and its emotional fallout, has gone virtually unaddressed…until now.

In this remarkable book, Barbara LeBey, an Atlanta attorney and former judge, who herself suffered and resolved a family estrangement, shares the stories of people from every walk of life and of every age and race, to show how such rifts often begin and how they can usually be resolved.

Working closely with two family therapists, LeBey offers a set of tested guidelines to help you approach alienated or angry family members, deal with your own issues, and mend your broken family relationships--even if you think it may already be too late.

Compassionate, practical, and full of rich insight, this book is a beacon of hope and healing to which families everywhere will turn again and again.