Forming single-parent families

Description

Forming single-parent families involves establishing a household led by one adult responsible for child-rearing, often as a response to divorce, separation, death, or personal choice. This strategy addresses the need for stable family structures when traditional two-parent arrangements are unfeasible. It focuses on providing emotional, financial, and social support to ensure child welfare, mitigate stigma, and promote resilience, while facilitating access to community resources and legal protections tailored to single-parent households.

Implementation

In 1994, the traditional two-parent family with children is less typical within the ECE region than a decade ago and the number of single-parent families, divorced or raising children born out of wedlock, as well as cohabiting couples and/or parents is on the rise. The share of married couples with children of all households declined during 1960-1988 from 36 to 22% in Sweden and from 38 to 28% in the UK. The share of single-parent families as a proportion of all family households is as high as 23% in the USA (1988) and 20% in Denmark to under 10% in southern Europe.