March 28, 2012 - Legal Momentum is pleased to announce the launch of the “Single Parent Policy Advocacy Network” (SPPAN). By joining SPPAN, you will receive information intended to educate and advocate for public policies that can improve the economic security of single parents and their children. We invite and encourage single parents and their allies to join the SPPAN electronic mailing list. To do so, please send a blank email to sppan-subscribe@lists.legalmomentum.org

Most single parents are single mothers. Half or more of the women who become mothers today will likely spend some time as a single mother. Single mothers have exceptionally high poverty and joblessness rates. Single mother families now account for a majority of all poor families with children.

Our new one page report Single Motherhood in the United States – A Snapshot (2012) summarizes some of the key facts. For more information about single parents, see the other Legal Momentum reports at our Single Parents program.

In conjunction with the launch of SPPAN, the Single Parent Policy Advocacy Network, Legal Momentum will be featuring facts on single parenthood in the months to come.

Fact #1: Single parenthood is very common in the United States and more common than in other countries. The recent OECD study Doing Better for Families found that 25.8% of U.S. children were living with a single parent, the highest percentage among the 27 high income countries in the study. The average percentage was 14.9%. The percentage was also above 20% in Canada, Estonia, Ireland, New Zealand, and Great Britain.