Page 2 of 2
Increased absentee fathers result in increased poverty for the
children. Fifty-one percent of the children raised by unmarried mothers
are raised in poverty, while only seven percent of children in a
marriage are poor. Even marriage after the child is born decreases
poverty for the child by more than half. That poverty, which typically includes Welfare dependence, has that dependence sustained through the child’s minority years in 50% of the cases, while children in married households are only on Welfare 3% of the time until adulthood. Again, marriage after the child is born decreases Welfare dependence by more than half, while divorce will only increase Welfare dependence to 13%.
Children raised in single parent homes are more likely to have retarded cognitive development, lower educational achievement, increased behavioral problems, lower impulse control and increased emotional disturbances. Those children are also more likely to engage in criminal activity.
A summary from the National Institute of Child Health and Development found that inner city Black male children in households at or below poverty with little or no fatherhood involvement had lower mental development and decreased cognitive development. They also were more prone to difficulties with self control, impulse control and Attention Deficit Disorder.
Project TALENT, a federal survey, found that children born outside of marriage were more likely to become unwed parents themselves.
Those children have a higher likelihood of becoming single parents because they are experiencing earlier sexual activity and few, if any models of parenting partnerships and/or marriage. They are also more likely to end up on Welfare as single parents.
According to The National Health Interview Survey of Child Health, children of unwed parents have greater behavioral and emotional problems than children of married parents.
A 1988 study by the University of Illinois showed that a boy’s educational achievements are diminished the longer he spends in a single parent home.
In 1988, a study of eleven thousand people showed a dramatic association between rates of violent crime and children from single parent households between the ages of 12 and 20. The study underscored the fact that neither poverty alone, nor race alone can be associated with high crime rates.
And, data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, reveals that young Black men raised in homes lead by a single mother are twice as likely to engage in criminal activities as those from two parent homes.
Society at large and the Black community in specific would do well to understand the importance of the father’s role in child rearing, focusing on more important aspects such as time spent on a regular basis than simple assignment of financial responsibility.
Even if all the fathers pay, who will be there to provide male role models for the children?
Am I making excuses for Absentee Fathers?
Not hardly.
What I am doing is underscoring the very real fact that focusing on financial child support has done little to increase the quality of life for the throngs of young boys and girls who are growing up without male influence.
More men have been jailed for child support, but that has not resulted in more men in the lives of those children or even more non-welfare support for the children, which means, quite frankly, that the Child Support Industry has failed.
Absentee fathers are not the only deadbeats.
Next Week: Who’s a Deadbeat? BLOG COMMENTS POWERED BY DISQUS
