M. Ed. (Educational Psychology) / In the author's daily handling of clients at the Institute for Child and Adult Guidance at the Rand Afrikaans University she came to the startling realization of just how many children are' either going through or have already gone through the trauma of their parents' divorce and the reconstitution of the family unit after their parent's remarriage. The author believes that there are unique problems facing today's child in the reconstituted family; so unique in fact, that it may be viable to develop a parental guidance program specifically for the reconstituted family. To ascertain whether a parental guidance program specifically for the reconstituted family is really necessary and desirable, an attempt is made to provide positive and qualitative answers to questions such as: Do normal families really differ from reconstituted families? If so, how and to what extent? Are there major differences in the typical problems facing the parents of the two types of family? Are there major differences between the two family types in "the way children perceive their parents?' The author, therefore, endeavors to identify problem areas in the reconstituted family by first of all studying available literature in an attempt to define a normal family; a reconstituted family; the functioning of a normal family; relationships in the reconstituted family and possible problems that may surface. In an empirical study three practical case studies handled at the Institute of Child and Adult Guidance are studied and an attempt is made to isolate those problems that are unique to' the reconstituted family...