SUPPORT FOR SINGLE PARENTS
HELP FOR SINGLE FATHERS
As compared to previous generations, the current generation has seen an incredible increase in single fathers. Back in the days, several single fathers could attain the title of singlehood as a result of a few grounds, which mainly were death of a partner or divorce. As years progressed, divorce became dominant among various couples and this increased the need for help for single fathers. Today, in the 21st century, cases of divorce and death are not the only causes of single fatherhood. Instead, there are diverse reasons as to why we have more single fathers, in which I will list below.
First, let’s get to know what we mean by “a family”. Several definitions have been brought up but for our purpose here, we define it as the basic unit in a society consisting of two parents nurturing their children. A single parent is defined as a parent that exercises parenthood alone, without the support of the other parent. Even with the existence of other adults and children in a household, a parent is viewed as a single parent if he is not partnered with anyone else in the household. With all these said, it is clear that we need help for single fathers, especially in today’s generation, which has proved to have growing numbers of single fathers.
More fathers are emerging in raising their children solely without the help of their alternate partner. Sometimes, the best place for children is with their Dad. These comes as a result of
Demographically, over 90% of the participants strongly agreed that fatherhood is crucial in our society. A little over 47% of fathers, that encouragement from the mothers of their children matters because of the obstacles they faced with finance, and their duties on the job. The final results of marital status statistics is over 80% married fathers, nine percent divorced, and six percent never married. One surprising statistic was 90% cohabitate with the mother and focal child (Glenn & Popenoe, 2006).
Twenty-five percent of children are being raised by a single parent, eighty percent of which are single mothers yet only single dads seem to be able to support themselves well.
Due to problems arising out of bitter divorces, custody, and support battles fathers are ostracize out of their children’s life. Fathers are often looked at as the bad person when things go wrong and being the blame. Fathers are just as responsible for the child being born as the mother. Over the years fathers continue to fight for equal rights, mothers are looked at as the victims and often make false statements about the fathers to suit their own selfish needs. Accusations of sexual and child abuse by mothers of the noncustodial fathers are often found to be untrue.
baby on their own with no man in the picture, but can you blame them? It is hard to find a decent man who also wants to raise a family. Even when you do there are no guarantees he will stick around for the long haul. Nevertheless, single fathers have biological link or legal status as a non-custodial parent. What that actually means is they are expected to pay child support for their children, but rarely do they have sole or joint custody of their children. Some men have
Did you know that more than one fourth of all children in the United States live with only one parent? Single parenting has become more common today than in the 1800s, when it was sometimes frowned upon. As the years have gone by, it has become easier and easier for women to become single parents. In the 1800’s if husbands died or abandoned their families, women had no choice but to work for extremely low and unfair wages. Today, most men and women are treated equal and receive equal wages making it easier for women to be single parents. This concept is shown in Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer through Aunt Polly in the 19th century, single parenting is also common today.
However, by rising to these challenges, custodial single parents develop significant strengths. The positive benefits of being a single parent are that the child receives a lesson in independence. The child sees how strong the one parent is at providing them with everything they need without having to depend on someone else. The parents are showing their children that it is possible to live on their own, have an enjoyable life and take care of others while doing so. The children will know that they are a priority to the parent. When there is a second parent around the house, it can be easy to put responsibility off on them, but when the children see how hard the parent is working for them, they will understand how important they are to their parent. (Dowd, 1997)
In 2002, number of children living with their single parent was 16.5 million (Davidson). The most important thing is that each single-parent family is different from the other. Children who live with a widowed mother will definitely be living a different home life from children with divorced parents or the one whose parents were never married. Children of the parents who were divorced will always have some kind of relationship with parents and parents’ partners. But it is obvious that children from single-parent families face tougher times economically as well as
There is no denial that fathers are integral members of our society. According to the US. Census Beurea, 1 in 4 children in the country live without fathers. This lack of domestic stability leaves them disproportionately susceptible to substance abuse, gang violence, premature parenthood, poverty, and suicide. The question then remains: “What defines a father?”.
Morin, Amanda. "Fathers Raising Daughters: The Unique Challenges of Single Fatherhood." Education.com | An Education & Child Development Site for Parents | Parenting & Educational Resource. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 May 2013.
In today’s ever changing world of family problems and instability, fathers are becoming a very scarce commodity. There is a major crisis brewing in the United States and the family unit is coming under siege. (According to the U.S. Census Bureau, over 24 four million children live without a father, that’s one out of every three children living in a home with one of the supporting pillars in a family.) With the father absence in these child lives, they become more prone to various problems in life later on. Everything from dropping out of school to going to prison, the chances of this happening increase dramatically.
Today, many households are headed by single women raising children, some with the presence or involvement of the father and others without. According to Vargas et al. (2016), parenting by a single mother is defined as a home sustained by a maternal caregiver for many reasons to include absence, neglect, divorce, or death of the other parent. According to Anderson (2002), half of American children at some point in their childhood will live in a household that’s being reared by a single parent, who is primarily the mother. Lowry (2005) uses the term “social disaster” when describing the epidemic of absenteeism of father from the household.
Impacting multiple areas of society, “fatherlessness is a link with virtually every social ill you can name” (Marche, 2013). The numbers are staggering and statistics show, “65 percent of all our children are growing up without a father in the home” (Chiles, 2010). Chiles (2010) also states, “one third of our babies live in poverty and when a child grows up without a father, they are 20 times more likely to end up in prison.” Poverty and fatherlessness is without a doubt a contributing factor to current societal issues. Data shows that the amount of unmarried women giving birth is in an upward spiral. According to Marche (2013), “in 2008, 41 percent of births involved unmarried women compared with 28 percent in 1990.” This information shows the digression of the family unit, and the decreased level of commitment among men to engage in as the husband and father to their family. Currently, an “estimated 24.7 million children (33%)” live without their father” (“U.S. Census Bureau”, 2010). The epidemic is not only evident in the unwed partners, but divorce contributes as well to the troubling effect upon children. Botèro (2012) states “children of divorce without enough father contact are prone to have poor social skills; to struggle with the five D’s (depression, drugs, drinking, discipline and
“Single-parent families now constitute 30 percent of all families with minor children and are the most rapidly growing families in America” (as cited in Dowd, 1997). When people hear the term ‘single-parent’ they automatically think it means a person who is the legal guardian of a child or children. It is typical for a single-parent to be a woman, because the statistics on the proportion of the children who live with their mother is at 87 percent, while a small 13 percent live with their father (as cited in Dowd, 1997). Because of the diversity in household types, a common question has been asked several times. Which type is better? Raising a child in a single-parent household or a two-parent household?
In the United States, there are approximately 10 million single mothers leading a family on their own (“ Single Mom Statistics: Surprising Facts & Figures of Today’s Single Mother”). Having a father in the home, can have numerous benefits to a child’s development.
40% of kids whose parents are divorced have not seen their father in a year. Ten years after a divorce, more than two-thirds of those living with their mother have not seen their father in a year. Situations much like these are exactly why the “Take Time to be a Dad Today” PSA was created. This problem is so common among us that some have grown numb to it, and often brush it off or just accept it. Nonetheless, it still has an effect on the people who did not have