Step Parent Adoption

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1. Step-parents invest less in non-biological children as opposed to not at all because step-parents use investing in the children as a mating strategy. When men provide step-children with things such as money it is a display of resources, therefore, making them look valuable as a mate to women. Men also invest in the children of current mates in order to please their mates. Once the relationship is terminated the step-parent stops investing in step-children because they no longer receive any benefits from that mate and because there are no inclusive fitness gains.
2. The inclusive fitness theory provides some possibilities for adoption and caring for non-genetically related children, including low cost to the person providing the care. If