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Story: Diverse families

Blended family

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Blended family

Blended families are created when adults who already have children from previous partnerships form a relationship. The Mackenzie-White family is blended. Ruth Mackenzie-White (front right) is the mother of (back row, left to right) Sydney, Braxton, Ashley and Wilson Mackenzie-White (centre). Larry White (front left) formally adopted Ashley in 1999 (he has been her father since she was two years old) and is the biological father of the other three children in the family.

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by Norman Hibbs

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How to cite this page

Rosemary Du Plessis and Candice Diggelmann, Diverse families – Blended families, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/46894/blended-family (accessed 5 June 2026).

Story by Rosemary Du Plessis and Candice Diggelmann, published 27 June 2018.