Single Parents

Single parents, most of whom are single mothers, have high poverty rates and high joblessness rates. Legal Momentum advocates for public policies to improve the economic security of single parents and their children. Over one quarter of U.S. children reside with only one of their parents, and as many as half of U.S. children may reside in a single parent family at some point in their childhood. Single mother families have a poverty rate around 40%, and single mother families now account for a majority of all poor families with children.

Reports and Resources:

Beyond The Myths About Single Motherhood, No. 1 - FACT: Out-of-Wedlock Birth Is Not The Reason That The U.S. Has An Exceptionally High Child Poverty Rate August 2012

Compliation of Legal Momentum Single Mother Reports - A compilation of reports Legal Momentum published in 2011-2012 detailing single mothers and economics, demographics, poverty and employment. (PDF) July 2012

Single Motherhood in the United States – A Snapshot (2012) - Statistics on the characteristics and economic challenges of single mothers in the United States. (PDF) March 2012

Attacks on Food Stamps - Legal Momentum has issued a statement in response to the recent attacks on the Food Stamp program explaining that the program provides vitally important food aid to help the needy achieve a nutritionally adequate diet. (PDF) January 2012

Single Mother Poverty in the United States in 2010 - Poverty is widespread and severe in single mother families. According to the Census Bureau data on poverty in 2010, people in single mother families had a poverty rate of 42.2% and an extreme poverty rate of 21.6%. (PDF) September 2011

Single Mother Poverty Rates Remain Exceptionally High Even When Food Stamps and Earned Income Credits Are Counted - No matter the type of income measured, single mothers suffer disproportionately high poverty rates. (PDF) June 2011

Poverty Rates for Single Mothers Are Higher in the U.S. than in Other High-Income Countries - A report by Legal Momentum shows that poverty rates for single mothers in the U.S. are exceptionally high compared to the poverty rates for single mothers in other high income countries. (PDF) June 2011

Harmful House Food Stamp Proposal Poses an Especially Grave Threat to Single Mothers and Their Children - The House of Representatives' FY 2012 Food Stamp proposal would roll back benefits for the neediest Americans in the wake of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. (PDF) May 2011

Welfare Reform at Age 15: A Vanishing Safety Net for Women and Children - In 1996, the federal government “ended welfare as we know it,” replacing Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) with the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Program. This report demonstrates that TANF has shredded the safety net. (PDF) April 2011

Single Mothers Since 2000: Falling Farther Down - This report explores the problems of single mothers in the last decade and finds that increased joblessness and decreased access to welfare benefits have significantly exacerbated poverty and hardship for this group. (PDF) January 2011

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