Single parent

Single parent is a term that is mostly used to suggest that one parent has most of the day to day responsibilities in the raising of the child or children, which would categorize them as the dominant caregiver. The dominant caregiver is the parent in which the children have residency with majority of the time, if the parents are separated or divorced children live with their custodial parent and have visitation with their noncustodial parent

Noncustodial parent

A "noncustodial parent" is a parent who does not have physical and/or legal custody of his/her child by court order.A "child-custody determination" means a judgment, decree, or other order of a court providing for the legal custody, physical custody, or visitation with respect to a child. The term...

. In western society in general, following separation, a child will end up with the 'primary caregiver

Primary caregiver

A primary caregiver is the person who takes primary responsibility for someone who cannot care fully for themselves. It may be a family member, a medical professional or another trained professional. Depending on culture there may be other members of the family engaged in care. This concept is very...

' (the main carer, e.g. in UK over 90% of the time the mother and a 'secondary caregiver,' normally the father. There are many facets involving single parenting in the social spectrum of our world today. This article will discuss topics such as demographics, multipule debates, mother and father as primary caregivers, single parent adoption, and divorce. The demographics of single parenting show a general increase worldwide in children living in single parent homes. Statistics from the United States, North Korea, and the United Kingdom all fall in line with this trend. Multiple debates concerning single parenthood have come about over time. Debates concerning not only the single parents themselves, but also the children involved, support for the families in single parent households, and more have risen to the surface. Divorce is one of the main events that leads to single parenting. Divorce can have many different effects on the children involved, and there are many ways to deal with it to try to make everything go smoothly. Media is a very important resource for people all over the world. Men and women of all ages are portrayed in the media, mostly on television or in movies, as great parents, showing that this can situation can result in a successful family environment.

Demographics

There has been a marked increase in the trend of children living with a single parent which is seen from changes observed in the U.S. Census report from years 1960 to 2000 when children dependent on a single parent jumped from 9% to 28% respectively. Two main reasons for this rise can be attributed to the increase of pregnancy in unmarried women, which 36% of all births were to unmarried women, and to the rise in divorces among couples at this time. In 2000, 11% of children were living with parents who had never been married, 15.6% of children lived with a divorced parent, and 1.2% lived with a parent who was widowed.

In the entire world, data suggests that about 16% of children live in a home with only one of their parents. The most recent information for 2011 from the U.S. Census Bureau states that 27% of children live with one parent, which is consistent with the trend 10 years ago in year 2000. In 2006, 12.9 million families in the US were headed by a single parent, 80% of which were headed by a female. In 2003, 14% of all Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n households were single-parent families. Since 2001, 31% of babies born in Australia have been born to unmarried mothers.

In the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

, there are 2.9 million single parents as of 2009, with 3 million children About 1 out of 4 families with dependent children are single-parent families, 8 to 11 percent of which have a male single-parent. - General Household Survey; see table 3.6. UK poverty figures show that 52% of single parent families are below the Government-defined poverty line (after housing costs).

In South Korea

South Korea

The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...

, 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

Adoption

Adoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting for another and, in so doing, permanently transfers all rights and responsibilities from the original parent or parents...

.

Countries located in Asia

Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...

 and the Middle East

Middle East

The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...

 are the least likely to have children raised in single parent households. On the other hand, the 3 areas of the world that are most likely to have nonmarital childbearing are Latin America

Latin America

Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages  – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...

, South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

, and Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

. Along with this, the areas where there are an extremely high number of children living in single parent homes include Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

, Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

, Latin America

Latin America

Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages  – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...

, North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

, and Oceania

Oceania

Oceania is a region centered on the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean. Conceptions of what constitutes Oceania range from the coral atolls and volcanic islands of the South Pacific to the entire insular region between Asia and the Americas, including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago...

. It has also been shown that children living in areas of South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

 are the very most likely to live with a single parent.

Debates

A focal point in public policy debate recently has been about whether or not government should be involved with giving aid to single parent households. Some believe it will reduce poverty and make situations better for these families, while others think that the government should just focus on more employment being available.

Also, there is a debate about what sorts of family structures are good for children. The two sides question whether it is the effect of a whole family being together (including mother and father), or if all that is needed is the love and affection from one parent that considerably affects children involved. Also, a part of this, is whether or not these single parent families can be considered an actual family or not.

Another issue brought up is juvenile delinquency and if it results from kids being in single parent households. The background ideas for this debate is that if children don't live with the parent that is the same sex as them, they may not have anyone to model appropriate behavior. In addition, there is a debate on the behavioral effects of children with incarcerated parents and how losing one or both parents to incarceration effects their academic performance and social well-being with others.

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. 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. It is a debatable practice that it is in a child's best interest to have both parents involvement in their life. It's encouraged that each parent respect the other parent in the child's presence and to provide financial help through child support for the parent whose role is primary caregiver

Primary caregiver

A primary caregiver is the person who takes primary responsibility for someone who cannot care fully for themselves. It may be a family member, a medical professional or another trained professional. Depending on culture there may be other members of the family engaged in care. This concept is very...

, when parents are not married or separated. The civil behavior among separated parents may have a direct effect on the child's coping ability, this is especially seen in younger children who might not understand the separation of their family, which stresses the importance of the involvement of both parents in a child's life; consequently, this requires both parent's to respect one another and possibly establish a limited friendship on behalf of the upbringing of their child.

Mother as the primary caregiver

There are multiple factors that contribute to single motherhood; divorce, desertion, death, imprisonment, and unmarried women with children which may have resulted from accidental pregnancy all are leading factors that contribute to single motherhood. There are also a few options for women who want to mother on their own by choice. Some choices for them would be adoption, artificial insemination, or in vitro fertilization.

The prevalence of single mothers as primary caregiver

Primary caregiver

A primary caregiver is the person who takes primary responsibility for someone who cannot care fully for themselves. It may be a family member, a medical professional or another trained professional. Depending on culture there may be other members of the family engaged in care. This concept is very...

 goes into traditional parenting trends we see between mothers and fathers. In her work Marriages & Families Benokraitis defines mothers as being generally viewed as the expressive role players who provide emotional support and nurturing qualities that sustain the family unit. Because of these nurturing aspects of a mother's role as caregiver, they outshine those of the father which tend to be more strict and distant. She goes on to express that one of a woman's expressive roles is that of kinkeeper which is defined as an important communication link among family members. Because of these nurturing aspects of a mother's role as caregiver, they outshine those of the father which tend to be more strict and distant. Children tend to drift towards preference of parent depending on how involved a particular parent is and a common problem in society today are absentee fathers; therefore, children are more likely to show preference for their mothers as they are more involved than the fathers who are not as involved in the daily activities of their offspring.

Another contributing factor in the prevalence of seeing mothers as the primary caregiver is preference according to the cultural definition of a mother's role. Children will lean more towards mothers because of their protective, nurturing characteristics which could perhaps have been a long established mother-child relationship from early on attachment

Attachment theory

Attachment theory describes the dynamics of long-term relationships between humans. Its most important tenet is that an infant needs to develop a relationship with at least one primary caregiver for social and emotional development to occur normally. Attachment theory is an interdisciplinary study...

 beginning at birth and continuing as the child grows up.

In addition to their traditional protective and nurturing role, single mothers will have to play an excessive role of family provider as well. The nurturing support and socialization of parenting is primarily directed at women whether single or married. Since men are generally the bread winners of a traditional family, in the absence of the father the mother must fulfill this role being able to provide nurturing parenting while also providing for the financial needs. This can be difficult for single mothers to do in which it is common for single mothers to rely on childcare facilities to provide the nurturing care for their children while they are working. Good quality childcare has developed in recent years as the trend of single parenting has risen, and some wonder whether such childcare programs are beneficial, however, there have been findings of positive developmental effects that childcare has on children. Because of a single mother's increased need to work, it's not common that a single mother will become actively involved with the childcare program anyway, reducing the possible guilt that a single mother may feel leaving the children with the care of others. Working single mothers may also rely on the help from fictive kin

Fictive kinship

Fictive kinship is a term used by anthropologists and ethnographers to distinguish between forms of kinship or social ties that are based on neither consanguinal nor affinal ties...

 who assist in caregiving while the mother is working to provide for her children.

Single mothers represent a dominant aspect of poverty levels in society as many single mothers who are the primary caregiver for their children lack the financial resources to support their children when the birth father does not provide helpful support to the mother. Although there is public support for low-wage single mothers, it does not make much difference because the benefits are so few. Poverty stricken single mothers seek assistance through living with another adult--perhaps a relative, fictive kin

Fictive kinship

Fictive kinship is a term used by anthropologists and ethnographers to distinguish between forms of kinship or social ties that are based on neither consanguinal nor affinal ties...

, or significant other

Significant other

Significant other is colloquially used as a gender-blind term for a person's partner in an intimate relationship without disclosing or presuming anything about marital status, relationship status, or sexual orientation, as it is vague enough to avoid offense by using a term that an individual...

--when single mothers who are divorced often re-marry and have less financial struggles than unmarried single mothers, who otherwise can not make up for their economic situation by working long hours when they are responsible for primary caregiving of their children, which explains why unmarried mothers are more likely to cohabitate with another supportive adult.

Father as the primary caregiver

In the United States today, there are nearly 13.6 million single parents raising over 21 million children. While single-parenting as a father is far less common than a mother, 16% versus 84% respectively, it is not uncommon or unheard of. Single Parent Magazine tells us that a father as the primary caregiver has increased by 60% in the last ten years and is easily the fastest growing type of family situation in the United States. Single parenthood may come about in several different ways mentioned above (see Mother as primary caregiver); however, a single father is usually the result of divorce with nearly 60% of all single fathers falling into this category. While fathers are not normally seen as the primary caregiver in a single-parenting situation, statistics show that 90% of single-fathers are employed, with 72% of these men having a full-time job.

Defining "father" may give us such words as provider, dad, and even sire, leading one to believe that father may be demanding, disciplinary, and even cruel in some circumstances. However, while fathers have been seen in this light, in this ever growing and ever changing world, we see males taking on both the responsibility of the mother and father. "...every father must take the time to be a dad as well as a friend, disciplinarian, shoulder to cry on, dance partner, coach, audience, adviseer, listener, and so much more." Armstrong Williams, the writer quoted above, goes on to say that he viewed his father as the driving force in his family and also someone who brought strength and compassion to his family. In addition to these qualities, the single father must take on the role of the mother. A mother's role in the typical American family normally extends past household chores and cooking, extending deep into morality, devotion, and the ability to set up an educational yet nurturing play environment. Thus, while difficult, it is the father's role to not only to be a source of resilience and strength, but also of love and compassion.

Little research has been done to suggest the hardships of the "single father as a caretaker" relationship; however, a great deal has been done on the hardships of a single-parent household. Single-parent households tend to find difficulty with the lack of help they receive. More often than not a single parent finds it difficult to find help because there is a lack of support, whether it be a second parent or other family members. This tends to put a strain on not only the parent but also the relationship between the parent and their child. Furthermore, dependency is a hardship that many parents find difficult to overcome. As the single parent becomes closer to their child, the child grows more and more dependent upon that parent. This dependency, while common, may reach far past childhood, damaging the child due to their lack of independence from their parent. "Social isolation of single parents might be a stress factor that they transmit to children. Another explanation may be that the parents do not have the time needed to support and supervise their children. This can have a negative impact on the child."

Adoption in the United States

Every state in the US currently allows single parents to adopt, and they were mainly deemed rare until the 1960's when the California State Department of Social Welfare first permitted it. Adoption as a single parent can be hard, and even next to impossible through some agencies. When the process begins it is important that the adopter know what lays ahead; adoption agencies have strict rules about what type of people they let adopt, and they have been known to be "invasive, intrusive, and downright rude" in finding out information about the adopter. There is a controversy that many believe kids should be adopted by a family: husband and wife, instead of by a single person. However, it must be noted that single parents are thought to be better for kids than divorced parents. The reason, being that single parents usually have a higher education and a higher income in comparison to the country's average and divorced parents cause an unnecessary stress on the family. An estimated 5-10% of all adoptions in the U.S. are by a single man or woman. In one study, the interviewers asked children questions about their new lifestyle in a single-parent home. The interviewer found that when asked about fears, a high proportion of children feared illness or injury to the parent. When asked about happiness, half of the children talked about outings with their single adoptive parent. A single person choosing to adopt has to be mindful of the challenges he or she may face (if he or she is approved as a single adoptive parent and completes a Home Study): there are certain agencies that will not work with single adoptive parents. As a single parent there is often no relief/break. As a single parent he or she will typically only have their own income to live off of, and thus might not have a backup plan. Traveling can be more complex.

Adoption process

It might be harder to adopt as a single parent due to the fact that some agencies may not approve it:

1. Decide if you want to adopt a child domestically or internationally.
2. Decide the age of the child you want to adopt.
3. Decide if you are looking to adopt a healthy child or a child with special needs.
4. You then need to find an adoption agency that will help you with three things:

a Home Study.

an adoptive placement.

post-placement services.

It is important to note that many countries only allow women to adopt as a single parent; oftentimes when men are allowed to be single adoptives they are only allowed to adopt boys .

History of single parent adoptions

Statistically, single parent adoptions have existed since the mid 19th century. Men were rarely considered as adoptive parents, and if they were considered then they were far less desired. Oftentimes, children adopted by a single person were raised in pairs rather than alone, illustrating that many adoptions by lesbians and gay men were arranged as single parent adoptions, whether they were or not. During the mid 19th century many state welfare officials made it very hard, if not impossible for single people to adopt. Agencies were looking for "normal" families: families of married men and women; men who provided for the family and women who took care of the home. In 1965 the Los Angeles Bureau of Adoptions sought out single African-Americans for African-American orphans for whom married families couldn't be found. In 1968 the Child Welfare League of America stated that married couples were preferred, but there were "exceptional circumstances" where single parent adoptions were permissible.

Divorce statistics

In 2009, the overall divorce rate was around 9/1000 in the United States.
It was also found that more influence came from the south, with the rates there being about 10.5/1000, as opposed to the north where it was around 7/1000. This resulted in about 1.5% (around 1 million) children living in the house of a recently divorced parent in the same year. Along with this, it has been shown that for the past 10 years or so, first marriages have a 50% chance of ending in divorce. And, for other marriages after a first divorce, the chance of another divorce increases. In 2003 a study showed that about 69% of kids in American living in a household that was a different structure than the typical nuclear family. This was broken down into about 30 percent living with a stepparent, 23 percent living with a biological mother, 6 percent with grandparents as caregivers, 4 percent with a biological father, 4 percent with someone who was not a direct relative, and a small one percent living with a foster family.

Children and divorce

Children are affected by divorce in many different ways. Every situation has different circumstances that produce different outcomes. It is important to consider the age of children when talking about how they will be affected by divorce. There have been three age groups studied, each with different outcomes after a divorce. And, there are also differences between initial outcomes and things that occur later. The first age group is young children, around ages two to six. At first, this group is the most likely to be fearful. They are the ones that might think a parent will abandon them, or that it was their fault the divorce happened. Also, confusion is something parents need to particularly watch for with this group, they might not understand everything, or not accept that the parents will never live together again. More recently it has also been shown that both boys and girls have the same amount of problems adjusting to divorce, but may show this in different ways. Later, while these children may be somewhat angry at the parent they don't live with, they generally do well with whoever they are living with, even when a step-parent is involved. It is most likely that they do so well because they don't have vivid memories of the divorce taking place. The next age group is children ages seven to twelve. This group is much better at expressing emotions at first. Also, they can understand that it isn't their fault, that it's just something that happened. Even though they have this better understanding, they still experience some difficulties involving loyalty to parents. They may rely, more so than younger children, on people outside of the family for support. Sometimes these kids do better with the parent who is the same sex as them, but not always. Later, kids in this age group show some more difficulties that the younger group. This can consist of problems in school, socially, and with step-parents. The last group consists of adolescents, ages 13-18. This group seems to have the most difficulties, both initially and later on. At first, there is a struggle to cope with the situation. Sometimes, if it is a real problem, they might turn away from the family and not seek any support from them, trying to deal with things on their own. This group also regresses back to the way the youngest group is later, being unable to express feelings. Also, they may have adjustment issues and problems developing long-term relationships due to these feelings.

Some other findings include that by age 30, boys who come from single parent households, as a result of divorce, are twice as likely to have been in prison at some point for a serious crime.

There are a few things that it has been suggested for good custody lawyers to inform the parents of. These tips are intended to help make everything be the best it can for the children. Leaving discussion of conflicts to the court only is an important factor. It is suggested to not talk about these things involving the other parent in front of the children. Another thing is that parents still need to work together, regarding decisions and discipline. It's important to involve both parents equally, even when the children may only be living with one because of custody. It's also said that it's good for parents to stay involved with their children, even if they only get to see them for a little. Communication is a key factor in these situations. It's told to parents to make sure that they never ignore what a child is saying, because they might be saying something that is very important to them. Some other resources list other suggestions that may make the situation easier. Parents really need to consider who will make which decisions, and how much they need to discuss things with each other. There are things such as food, clothing, school, friends, dating, extracurricular activities, doctor visits, and religion, that will need to be talked about. Parents need to make sure they communicate with each other, and the children involved, about all of these things listed and who to talk to about them. When parents don't agree on these topics, first, they should try to have a civilized conversation with each other. However, if this isn't working, then they could consider revising the custody over the children, and coming up with some new ground rules.

Single parents in the Media

Top single mothers:

• Lorelai Gilmore
  Lorelai Gilmore
  Lorelai Victoria Gilmore is a fictional character in the WB/CW television series Gilmore Girls, portrayed by Lauren Graham. She is the main protagonist for the length of the series's seven year run from October, 2000, until May, 2007....
  
   in Gilmore Girls
  Gilmore Girls
  Gilmore Girls is an American family comedy-drama series created by Amy Sherman-Palladino, starring Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel. On October 5, 2000, the series debuted on The WB and was cancelled in its seventh season, ending on May 15, 2007 on The CW...
  
  
• Joyce Summers in Buffy the Vampire Slayer
  Buffy the Vampire Slayer
  Buffy the Vampire Slayer is an American television series that aired from March 10, 1997, until May 20, 2003. The series was created in 1997 by writer-director Joss Whedon under his production tag, Mutant Enemy Productions with later co-executive producers being Jane Espenson, David Fury, David...
  
  
• Nancy Botwin in Weeds
  Weeds
  Weeds may refer to:* Weed, a type of common plant* Weeds , an American comedy drama series, starting 2005* Weeds , a 1987 film starring Nick Nolte* "Weeds" , an episode of the TV series Millennium...
  
  
• Susan Meyer in Desperate Housewives
  Desperate Housewives
  Desperate Housewives is an American television comedy-drama series created by Marc Cherry and produced by ABC Studios and Cherry Productions. Executive producer Cherry serves as Showrunner. Other executive producers since the fourth season include Marc Cherry, Bob Daily, George W...
  
  
• Miranda Hobbs in Sex and the City
  Sex and the City
  Sex and the City is an American television comedy-drama series created by Darren Star and produced by HBO. Broadcast from 1998 until 2004, the original run of the show had a total of ninety-four episodes...
  
  
• Miranda Bailey in Grey's Anatomy
  Grey's Anatomy
  Grey's Anatomy is an American medical drama television series created by Shonda Rhimes. The series premiered on March 27, 2005 on ABC; since then, seven seasons have aired. The series follows the lives of interns, residents and their mentors in the fictional Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital in...
  
  
• Kelly Taylor in 90210
  90210
  90210 may refer to* Beverly Hills, California, ZIP code 90210* Beverly Hills Post Office* Peltola, Oulu, Finland, postal code 90210* Beverly Hills, 90210, an American teen drama television series that ran between 1990 and 2000...
  
  
• Amy Juergens in The Secret Life of the American Teenager
  The Secret Life of the American Teenager
  The Secret Life of the American Teenager is an American teen drama television series created by Brenda Hampton. It first aired on ABC Family on July 1, 2008. The show was renewed for a second season consisting of 24 episodes on February 9, 2009, which began airing on June 22, 2009...
  
  
• Kate Austen in Lost
  Lost
  -In cinema or television:*Lost , an ABC drama about people who become stranded on a mysterious island*Lost , a short-lived reality television program*Lost , an American thriller starring Dean Cain...
  
  

Top single fathers:

• Danny Tanner in Full House
  Full House
  Full House is an American sitcom television series. Set in San Francisco, the show chronicles widowed father Danny Tanner, who, after the death of his wife, enlists his best friend Joey Gladstone and his brother-in-law Jesse Katsopolis to help raise his three daughters, D.J., Stephanie, and...
  
  (Widower)
• Richard Castle
  Richard Castle
  Richard Edgar "Rick" Castle is a fictional character portrayed by Nathan Fillion in the ABC crime series Castle.-Family life:...
  
   in Castle
  Castle (TV series)
  Castle is an American comedy-drama television series, which premiered on ABC on March 9, 2009. The series is produced by Beacon Pictures and ABC Studios. On January 10, 2011, Castle was renewed for a fourth season...
  
  
• Robby Ray Stewart in Hannah Montana
  Hannah Montana
  Hannah Montana is an American television series, which debuted on March 24, 2006 on the Disney Channel. The series focuses on a girl who lives a double life as an average teenage school girl named Miley Stewart by day and a famous pop singer named Hannah Montana by night, concealing her real...
  
  (Widower)
• Marlin in Finding Nemo
  Finding Nemo
  Finding Nemo is a 2003 American comi-drama animated film written by Andrew Stanton, directed by Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich and produced by Pixar. It tells the story of the overly protective clownfish Marlin who, along with a regal tang called Dory , searches for his abducted son Nemo...
  
  (Widower)
• Seely Booth in Bones
  Bones (TV series)
  Bones is an American crime drama television series that premiered on the Fox Network on September 13, 2005. The show is based on forensic anthropology and forensic archaeology, with each episode focusing on an FBI case file concerning the mystery behind human remains brought by FBI Special Agent...
  
  
• Darkwing Duck/Drake Mallard in Darkwing Duck
  Darkwing Duck
  DarkWing Duck is an American animated television series produced by The Walt Disney Company that ran from 1991–1992 on both the syndicated programming block The Disney Afternoon and Saturday mornings on ABC. It featured the eponymous anthropomorphic duck superhero whose alter ego is mild-mannered...
  
  

See also

• Cinderella effect
  Cinderella Effect
  The Cinderella effect is a term used by psychologists to describe the high incidence of stepchildren being physically abused, emotionally abused, sexually abused, neglected, murdered, or otherwise mistreated at the hands of their stepparents at significantly higher rates than at the hands of their...
  
  
• Cost of raising a child
  Cost of raising a child
  The cost of raising a child varies from country to country.-Developing countries:According to Globalissues.org, "Almost half the world — over three billion people — live on less than $2.50 a day." This statistic includes children. On this number, it costs roughly US$900 to raise a child for a year,...
  
  
• Marriage gap
  Marriage gap
  The marriage gap describes observed economic and political disparities between those who are married and those who are single. The marriage gap can be compared to, and should not be confused with, the gender gap.-Politics and marriage:...
  
  
• McD v. L
  McD v. L
  McD v. L is a ruling by the Supreme Court of Ireland, handed down on 10 December 2009, that granted a sperm donor visitation rights to a child born via artificial insemination...
  
  
• Morris Finer Report on One Parent Families
• Only child
  Only child
  An only child is a person with no siblings, either biological or adopted. In a family with multiple offspring, first-borns, may be briefly considered only children and have a similar early family environment, but the term only child is generally applied only to those individuals who never have...
  
  
• Single (relationship)
  Single (relationship)
  In legal definitions for interpersonal status, a single person is someone who is not in a relationship or is "unmarried". If a marriage is annulled, however, or it is found to have been void ab initio , and assuming the person was not married previously, that individual is single, rather than...
  
  
• Teenage pregnancy
  Teenage pregnancy
  Teenage pregnancy is a pregnancy of a female under the age of 20 when the pregnancy ends. It generally refers to a female who is unmarried and usually refers to an unplanned pregnancy...
  
  

Further reading

• Bankston, Carl L. and Caldas, Stephen J., Family Structure, Schoolmates, and Racial Inequalities in School Achievement, Journal of Marriage and the Family 60:3 (1998), 715-723.
• Dependent Children: 1 in 4 in lone-parent families," National Statistics Online, National Statistics, United Kingdom (July 7, 2005) . Accessed at: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=1163 on July 17, 2006.
• Geographic Distribution: London has most lone-parent families," National Statistics Online, National Statistics, United Kingdom (July 7, 2005). Accessed at: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=1166 on July 17, 2006.
• Hilton, J., Desrochers, S.,Devall, E. Comparison of Role Demands, Relationships, and Child Functioning is Single-Mother, Single-Father, and Intact Families. Journal of Divorce and Remarriage ,35(?) 29-56.
• Mulkey, L.; Crain, R; Harrington, A.M. One-Parent Households and Achievement: Economic and Behavioral Explanations of a Small Effect. Sociology of Education, 1992, 65, 1, Jan, 48-65
• Pong, Suet-ling The School Compositional Effect of Single Parenthood on 10th Grade Achievement, Sociology of Education 71:1 (1998), 23-42.
• Quinlan, Robert J. Father absence, parental care, and female reproductive development. Evolution and Human Behavior, Volume 24, Issue 6, November 2003, Pages 376-390
• Richards, Leslie N.; Schmiege, Cynthia J. Family Relations
  Family Relations (journal)
  Family Relations is a peer reviewed academic journal published on behalf of the National Council on Family Relations by Wiley-Blackwell. It covers family studies and social work research, educational practices or philosophies, and professional development for researchers, educators, family policy...
  
  , Vol. 42, No. 3, Family Diversity. (Jul., 1993), pp. 277–285.
• Risman, Barbara J., and Park, Kyung. (1988). Just The Two of Us: Parent-Child Relationships in Single-Parent Homes. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 1988, 50, 4, Nov, 1049.
• Sacks, G. (September 4, 2005) “Boys without fathers is not a logical new idea.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (Little Rock, Arkansas)
• States News Service. (2005 July 20). “America’s Children: Family Structure and Children’s Well-Being

External links

• Single Parents Action Network, UK Empowering single parents and their families
• http://www.onespace.org.uk - the parenting site for single parents. Offering support, information and advice on all aspects of raising children alone.
• Parenting Corner Q+A: Single Parenting in the US
• http://www.internationalfamilymag.com/IFarchives/modernfamilies/singleparent.htm - International Family Magazine