Single Parent Families
Half of all parents, yes 50%, will experience divorce and therefore be a single parent for some period of time before remarrying or forever which ever comes first. Families maintained by women with no husband present increased three times as fast as married-couple families in the past 10 years. Due to divorce or death, mothers and fathers who end up going it alone have gotten there through the end of a marriage.
in typical cases, a parent may be left alone after divorce, after abandonment by the other parent, separation from the other parent, by the jailing of the other parent or after the other parent has died. A single parent not need be the natural mother or father of the child (children) as some individuals choose to become single parents through natural or artificial insemination, adoption or they may have taken on the role of parent as neither the child's mother or father are able to care for it. In some countries, teenage single parents have become a serious social issue.
In most cases the mother retains custody of her child or children, although the father usually obtains custody in Islamic republics. Among divorced single parents in the U.S., according to the U.S. Census Bureau, only 15% of custodial parents in 2002 were men.
While many view single parents as being a modern phenomenon the percentage of single parents has remained relatively constant. For instance in 1900 13% of Canadian families were single parent ones; in 1996 the number was 14%. The major change is in cause. In 1900 most single parent families were the result of the death of a parent, while in 1996 they were usually caused by divorce.
Today in the United States, being raised by a single parent is not uncommon. About three in ten children live in a single parent home. The most common type of single parent home is one with only a mother. However, single father homes are the fastest growing type of family situation. The amount of single fathers has...
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