80 percent of the children who were "post-war generation" could expect
to grow up with two biological parents who were married to each other.
Today, only about 50 percent of our children will spend their entire
childhood in an intact family. 24 million children in America sleep in
homes where their natural fathers do not live.
In 2000, 29 percent of Alabama’s families with minor children were
headed by a single parent compared to the national average of 27
percent. Divorce and non-marital childbearing have become commonplace
and have dramatically altered children’s lives. Approximately half of
the children in the United States will live in a single parent home at
some point before age 18 years.
About 35 percent of newborns each year are born to unmarried parents in
Alabama. In several counties, this rate is over 50 percent. Alabama
currently has the 4th highest divorce rate in the country.
Nationally, 40 percent of children whose fathers live outside the home
have no contact with them. The other 60 percent had contact an average
of 69 days during the year. 26 percent of absent fathers live in a
different state than their children.
Children from father-absent homes are five times more likely to live in
poverty, 3 times more likely to fail in school, two to three times more
likely to develop emotional and behavioral problems, and three times
more likely to commit suicide.
In 1999, 23 percent of Alabama’s children lived in poverty. There were
only 5 states with higher percentages of children in poverty during
1999.
The chief predictor of crime in a neighborhood is the percentage of
homes without fathers. Up to 70 percent of adolescents charged with
murder are from fatherless homes. Up to 70 percent of long-term prison
inmates grew up in fatherless homes.
RE-ENGAGING FATHERS WILL CHANGE LIVES !