Definition of Single Parent Family

The concept of family is very broad and can be studied from different perspectives: its evolution historical, as a institution of society, analyzing their functions within society or dividing families into their different types. If we focus on the different types of family it is possible to do the following classification: traditional family, single parent family and other models.

What is a single parent family and its different modalities

Is that Unit family in which a mother or father lives with her children. In other words, there is a head of the family who is responsible for the children. This modality can happen for very different reasons: due to the death of one of the parents, because it is a single mother, by the separation of the parents, when a single man decides to adopt a child, a situation in which a parent is forced to emigrate leaving their children in the care of the other parent or in those cases in which a parent legally loses custody of their children.

The aforementioned examples of a single parent family remind us of a reality, that the traditional model of family (dad, mom and children living in the same roof) is living with other ways of organization family.

Some circumstances associated with single-parent families

The fact that a parent is the head of the family has a number of social, economic and emotional implications. From a social point of view, in some cases single mothers are unprotected in their personal environment and labor. The single parent family normally involves income more reduced. From the point of view affective, there does not have to be any problem, but a child can miss the father or mother figure. These circumstances mean that in some countries economic and social aid is promoted for these families. And for the aid to be effective, the legal recognition of a single parent family is necessary.

Regarding the type of aid, they can be diverse: tax deductions, economic benefit to support the children or aid for birth or adoption.

There are some aids but the most relevant is the recognition of a series of rights in the field of work or social rights.

From a quantitative point of view, the percentage of single-parent families is growing in most countries. For example, two out of every five children under the age of 18 in the United States live without a biological parent. This data has, logically, complex implications, which are analyzed by sociologists. There are sociological studies that maintain that the absence of one of the parents is a factor of risk for teenagers. Other studies analyze the relationship between single-parent families and academic results.

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