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Single parent

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Single-parents (also lone parent, solo parent and sole parent) is a parent who cares for one or more children without the physical assistance of the other parent in the home. "Single Parenthood" may vary according to the local laws of different nations or regions.

Single parenthood may occur for a variety of reasons. A few possible scenarios are by choice, as in, divorce, adoption, artificial insemination, surrogate motherhood, while others are the result of an unforeseeable occurrence, such as a death, child abuse, child neglect, or abandonment by biological parents, or the mother conceiving as a result of a short love affair.

The living and parenting arrangements for single parents are diverse. A number live in households with family, other adults or alone in home, apartments, condos or government assisted housing. When parents separate, one party, usually the primary parent, has the children the majority of the time but secondary or 'non-resident' parents continue to share some type of parenting time and responsibility, to some extent, with their child.[1]

It is a term that is mostly used to suggest that one parent has most of the day to day responsibility in the raising of the child or children. In western society in general, following separation, a child will end up with a 'primary carer' (the main carer, eg in UK over 90% of the time the mother[2]) and a 'secondary carer', normally the father. In the UK, and U.S.A for example, it is widely practiced, that it is in the 'children's best interests' to have both parents' involvement, encourage each parent to respect the other parents in the children's presence and financial help through child support for the parent that carries the most responsibility when parents separate. Any benefits, tax credits and related government-sponsored assistance are given 100% to the primary carer, if the secondary parent does not have the ability to financially care for their child, thus the child falls 300% below the poverty line of society standards, this can be either mother, father, or legal guardian.

Demographics

In 2006, 12.9 million families in the U.S. were headed by a single-parent, 80% of which were headed by a female.[3][4] Since 1994, the percentage of US households headed by a single parent has remained steady at around nine percent, although it has nearly doubled since 1970.[5]

In 2003, 14% of all Australian households were single-parent families. Since 2001, 31% of babies born in Australia have been born to unmarried mothers.[6] (Although calculated single mothers may not be single, as they may be living with the other biological parent without being formally married.)

In the United Kingdom, there are 1.9 million single parents as of 2009, with 3 million children Cite error: The <ref> tag has too many names (see the help page). About 1 out of 4 families with dependent children are single-parent families, 8 to 11 percent of which have a male single-parent.[7][8] - General Household Survey; see table 3.6 </ref> UK poverty figures show that 52% of single parent families are below the Government-defined poverty line (after housing costs).[9]

In South Korea, where societal disapproval of unmarried mothers is strong, 1.6% of births in 2007 were to unmarried women, and, of those women, 70% are estimated to have opted for adoption.[10]

Effects

See also: Implications of divorce

Single parent families are at a higher risk of poverty than couple families, and on average single mothers have poorer health than couple mothers.[11]

Many factors influence how children develop in single-parent families: the parent's age, education level, and occupation; the family's income, and the family's support network of friends and extended family members (including the non-resident parent, if available). Disadvantages in these factors that often accompany single parenting appear to cause most of this association rather than single parenting itself.[12][13]

Shocking headlines do get published; for example a 2003 Swedish study, stated that those living with a single parent were about three times more likely to kill themselves or end up in the hospital after an attempted suicide by the age of 26 than children living with two parents, however this only happened to 2.2 percent of girls and 1 percent of boys.[14]

A variety of viewpoints do exist, with different readings of the research possible. The Institute for the Study of Civil Society reports that children of single parents, after controlling for other variables like family income, are more likely to have problems.[15] There are impacts of sole parenting on children, however the weight of the evidence it is suggested, do not appear to support a view that sole parents are a major cause of societal ills and are doing irreparable damage to their children.[13].

Assistance and help

A common way for single parents to seek and receive help is over the Internet by conversing with other single parents in similar situations. There are various websites available, for support, information, and sharing the single parenting experience through offering discussion forums, blogs and professional advice to those parents who find themselves having a difficult time parenting alone. Many single parent communities offer chat boards for pregnant mothers and single parents through each stage of child development. http://www.gingerbread.org.uk ,http://www.SingleWithKids.co.uk, http://www.onlydads.org and http://www.onlymums.org are such websites and as well as the online support, they also provide mutual support through meet ups and breaks, proving to single parents that life really can continue after divorce or bereavement.

In the UK Gingerbread http://www.gingerbread.org.uk - the National charity for single parents - has a facebook page [16], a twitter account [17] and a discussion forum for members http://www.gingerbread.org.uk/Forum/

Choice parent

A choice parent is a parent who voluntarily becomes a single parent to a biologic or adoptive child from the very beginning, rather than by a later separation from a partner.

A woman may voluntarily become a choice parent by artificial insemination, use of a cervical cap conception device with donor sperm, or simply by intercourse.

In history and fiction

There have been several famous single parents who were also actors, vocalists, and politicians. Murphy Brown, one famous fictional character in the sitcom of the same name, was a career woman working in a TV news firm. She became pregnant and had a baby in the comedy series' fourth season. The character's decisions became a nation-wide interest when she was referred to by several US family values-oriented politicians, including then-vice president, Dan Quayle, who openly criticized the show during a 1992 speech in San Francisco.[18]

Other examples include:

Public policy debate

Single parents have often been the focus of public policy debate. The debate has included both practical considerations around the role of government in their support, and moral ones in response to the decline of the traditional family. The moral debate tends to divide between liberal and conservative positions with liberals welcoming or accepting the changes in family structures, while conservatives decry the declines in marriage and the rises in divorce and cohabitation.

The major issue facing single mothers and their children in the United States today is poverty. Female-headed single parent families comprise 50% of all families in poverty (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1979). Statistics show in the U.S. Census Bureau that children raised by both parents grow up with more financial and educational advantages.

Hence, a policy debate tends to split along similar lines with fiscal conservatives emphasizing a minimal role for government and an employment focus, while liberals tend to support more government involvement in an attempt to minimize poverty through things like social programs such as welfare and insufficient child support. [citation needed]

Children from all family types are at risk when they are experiencing parenting that is inadequate in the terms of attention, being there to nurture and monitor. This can happen in families that are experiencing economic stress and may need to work more than others. (http://social.jrank.org)

Other Debates

Other debates consist of whether or not children from single family homes encounter and engage in violence, which can affect their adult lives.

Also, the debate about whether or not the fact that children from single family homes can become emotionally distracted or upset and preoccupied by the exposure of their family lives, which affects their education in a dire way. One side thinks that adolescences education might be deferred or they can drop out completely due to parental efficacy. Their attitudes toward the importance of an education and the investment and time the put in their children’s education can determine whether the child will enroll in higher education as an adult while the other side believes that it is other factors that contribute to this dire affect in their education.

See also

References

  1. ^ Callister, Paul and Burks, Stuart (2006) "Two Parents, Two Households: New Zealand data collection, language and complex parenting" Family Commission (accessed February 18, 2008)
  2. ^ http://www.gingerbread.org.uk/portal/page/portal/Website/For%20professionals/Policy/key-facts-and-figures
  3. ^ http://www.census.gov/apsd/techdoc/cps/cpsmar06.pdf (pdf)
  4. ^ The Bachelor Life Includes a Family By MIREYA NAVARRO. Published: September 5, 2008
  5. ^ Bergman, Mike (March 27, 2007). "Single-Parent Households Showed Little Variation Since 1994". U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved 2010-10-10.
  6. ^ "Australia Single Parents Families"
  7. ^ name=OPF1>Labour Market Review (2006), Office for National Statistics
  8. ^ households2005-final.xls2005 Office for National Statistics
  9. ^ name http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/hbai.asp
  10. ^ Choe Sang-Hun. (October 7, 2009). "Group Resists Korean Stigma for Unwed Mothers." The New York Times.
  11. ^ Millar, Jane and Ridge, Tess (2001)"Families, Poverty, Work and Care: A review of literature on lone parents and low income couple families" (DWP Research Report No.153)
  12. ^ Rickard, Maurice "Children of Lesbian and Single Women Parents" Research Note no. 41 2001-02, Social Policy Group, Parliament of Australia (accessed February 18, 2008)
  13. ^ a b Mackay, Ross (2005) "The impact of family structure and family change on child outcomes: a personal reading of the research literature" Social Policy Journal of New Zealand (accessed February 18, 2008)
  14. ^ The Lancet, January 25, paraphrased by CBS News' Emma Ross, "Single-Parent Kids More At Risk"
  15. ^ Experiments in Living: The Fatherless Family
  16. ^ http://www.facebook.com/gingerbread
  17. ^ http://twitter.com/gingerbread
  18. ^ McQueen, Michael. Quayle's Criticisms Of `Murphy Brown' Send Sparks Flying --- Pregnancy on Sitcom Proves Fertile Ground for Debate Over Values and Abortion. Wall Street Journal. May 21, 1992.
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