Single Parenthood and Poverty, the Undeniable Connection

RCM ^ | 03/19/2018 | Robert Samuelson

[SeekAndFind]

Anyone who has raised children knows that it's a messy, trial-and-error process, with an emphasis on "error." It's hard enough to do well with two parents, a reasonably stable and sane marriage and a reliable income. When there's only one parent with a meager income, the burdens mount and feed on themselves. That's one reason why the growth of single-parent households is rightly regarded as one cause of poverty.

Or so I thought.

Naturally, I was shocked recently to read in The New York Times — with all the Times' authority — an opinion essay headlined, "Single Mothers Are Not the Problem." In a country of more than 320 million people, the essay argued, there just aren't that many households headed by a single mother — about 9% — to explain poverty.

"Even if they all married or never had children," the essay continued, "poverty would not be substantially lower."

Could this possibly be so? Could many poverty experts, who believe there's a connection between single-parent families and poverty, be wrong? Well, not by the government's own figures, as I will show in a moment.

But, first, let's put the Times essay in context. Its policy agenda is candid. "We should stop obsessing over how many single mothers there are and stop shaming them," write sociologists David Brady of the University of California, Riverside; Ryan M. Finnigan of the University of California, Davis; and Sabine Hubgen of WBZ Berlin Social Science Center.

Instead, they contend, we should raise benefits for all the poor, including single parents, to alleviate their poverty. This, they say, is what many European countries have done.

Of course, this is a worthy subject of debate. But it must be admitted that the odds of securing more money for the poor aren't good.

[SMARTY]

These women/girls who insist on bearing children OUT of wedlock are voluntarily stacking the deck against their OWN child

Stupid

[PGR88]

We all know the progressive/Left views blacks as expendable. The real goal in transforming America always had to be changing the cultural norms and morality of white America.

[blam]

I am/was a White male single parent.
(my son has a PhD in physics)

[Simon Green]

I've been single my entire life, and likely will remain so. I have no children.

I can also afford a moderately expensive hobby (gun collecting), and take a couple of international vacations each year.

This is not a coincidence.

[Dilbert San Diego]

I think we should go back and review the results of the war on poverty. LBJ declared war on poverty.

What worked, what didn’t work, what were unintended consequences, etc. We’ve been down this road before. It’s not like nobody ever thought that we should enact government assistance programs of one kind or another, to alleviate poverty.

[Gay State Conservative]

These women/girls who insist on bearing children OUT of wedlock are voluntarily stacking the deck against their OWN child

While this may,or may not,be true of girls I can guarantee that a boy who grows up in a household that lacks a sane,decent,stable and hard working husband and father has 2.9 strikes against him entering adulthood.This nation's male prison population represents irrefutable proof of this.

[Yulee]

I was raised by a single mother, along with Bible believing grandmother. My father was in prison. My uncles were my role models. Yes, we were poor, and yes I had some problems as a teen. I have been married 43 years. I am a retired professional, with three degrees in the area I worked in. I am conservative, and claim Hillary’s title of “Deplorable with pride.

Christ has made all the difference.