KARACHI: Single-parent families are now so common that couples living with their children are the minority in some parts of Britain.
Recent statistics show that there are close to 2 million single-parent families in the UK with the highest proportion of children brought up in one-parent families of any major
European country.
Data has shown that there are seven Parliamentary constituencies where single-parent families make up the majority of households.
The seven areas where single-parent families are the majority constitute the urban hearts of London, Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham and Leeds.
“Children need input from both parents in order to thrive. Research shows children growing up in fatherless homes are much less likely to do well at school and are at twice the risk of getting into problems with drink or drugs, or involved in crime,” said Jill Kirby, a
social policy expert and former director of the Centre for Policy Studies.
The UK welfare system has been partly to blame, by providing a substitute breadwinner rather
than encouraging parents to stick together,” he added.
Two years ago a report from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development,
which represents industrialised nations, exposed Britain’s shocking record on broken homes.
It found it has more children living in one-parent families than any other European country
and more of single mothers are unemployed and on benefit than anywhere else on the
Continent.
The study revealed 23 per cent of British children up to the age of 14 live in single-parent
families, behind the US on 26 per cent.
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