So at the risk of sounding clich, I cast my vote for prevention rather than a cure. Most importantly, I vote for prevention over enforced rationing! The time has come to start instilling a greater sense of shared responsibility and urgency in all of us over the way we treat our water. The good news? Like most other environmental challenges, we already possess most if not all of the tools needed to tackle this issue! In my opinion it involves a simple, three fold approach..

I going to assume that the stepparent is you. If the bio parent is still in the picture and you want to ensure that you are going to be a permanent presence in this kid life, a family lawyer can help you with adoption proceedings (and possibly terminating the other parent rights if necessary and appropriate). If the only remaining bio parent is dead and you want to keep the kid, good for you, but you need a lawyer on your side asap to help that happen..