Life is a struggle when one has to raise a child all alone without the help of a partner.
Trying to survive the family on one paycheck and trying hard to strike a balance between limited funds and unlimited demands often drives a single parent to penury.
There has been a constant rise in the relative statistics of growing poverty and single parenthood. A study conducted in 2010 by U.S. Census Bureau revealed that total percentage of the married couples living in poverty was 6.2%. In contrast to that, the poverty rate went up to 27.3% for households run by single parents. The rate is altogether high for single mothers where it soars up to 29.9% for the total women-supported population. Research further indicated that children raised in single parent families are predisposed to a number of social ills. They also face problems with academic success and are at risk for criminal activity.
The contemporary generation does not regard marriage as the key to prosperity and happiness. There are many marriages that have a negative effect on children and end up in divorce. Many married couples are not able to raise their kids in healthy and stable ways for a variety of reasons. However, there are still a large number of women-oriented families that raise good kids without the help of the other partner.
Research continues to indicate that those single parents suffering from poverty never intended to be single in the first place. Poverty is an emerging problem where nearly 47 million residents in United States rely on Food Stamps. About 35 million citizens get healthcare coverage from Affordable Care Act and more than half of them belong to limited income group.
Addressing the link between poverty and single parenthood, children are the real sufferers in the scuffle. Where poverty exists in 12% of the children in married households, the percentage shoots up to 68% in case of non-married parents. However remarriage after divorce does bring in a significant decline in poverty. Single mothers who remarry after divorce experience about 40% reduction in poverty. Marriage therefore helps to improve the income of a family thus reducing poverty for both unemployed and employed single mothers.
When a large number of single parent families rely on welfare programs, most of these welfare programs create disincentives to marry, as the benefits received reduce when the income of the family increases. A mother who is single can receive considerably more benefits than if she is living with an employed husband at home. Thus, marriage is seen as a penalty that will reduce the assistance from government and altogether result in an overall decline in a couple’s combined income.
US society can draw substantial benefits by bringing an end to so called marriage penalties. Unfortunately, there are no serious efforts to find a work-around here, which can surely bring about a positive change for both single parents and single moms.