The statistics are overwhelming. In the 1960's 90% of children born grew up in a 2 parent home. Today, a third of children will never experience a 2 parent household before reaching adulthood. The changes over the past 50 years were due to increases in divorce and out-of-wedlock childbearing. Today
less than half of children will grow up with both natural parents. Nearly a third are born to
unmarried parents, the majority of whom never live together, and another third are born to
married parents who divorce before their child reaches adulthood. To further complicate
matters, a substantial number of children are exposed to multiple marital disruptions and
multiple father figures.
What this blog wants to do is bring the research to light. The socio-economic impact in children is clear. Many of the catastrophic crimes we hear about on the news come from fatherless children. Systematically we pay a higher cost in education and criminal justice because of the dramatic shift.
What I hope happens is that the research motivates fathers to become more involved in their child's life. I hope by sharing resources, we can change negative media perception about men as caregivers.
