Single Parenting Support Group

A single parent is a parent with one or more children, who is not living with the child[ren]'s other parent. The legal definition of single parenthood may vary according to local laws of nations or provinces. Single parenthood may occur as a result of loss (death, separation, divorce, abandonment by one parent), or by choice (single parent adoption, donor insemination, egg donor/surrogate motherhood, choosing to carry to term an unexpected pregnancy and raise the child on one's own).

Research about the welfare of children in single parent families varies. Many factors influence the outcome of how children fare: parent's age, education level, and occupation, family income, family's support network from friends and extended family members (including the absent parent if available).

Today in the United States, being raised by a single parent is not uncommon. About three in ten children live in a single parent home. The most common type of single parent home is one with only a mother. However, single father homes are the fastest growing type of family situation; the amount of single fathers has grown by 60% in the last ten years alone. This commonly relates to the courts increasing consideration of the stability and permanence of the father's situations.