Yesterday, I had the privilege of conducting the wedding of my oldest granddaughter. It was a beautiful setting, a beautiful day, and a beautiful couple that stood before me. I have the highest hopes for them; however, I will not have the privilege of living long enough to see what God does with their lives. I am convinced, however, that they will exemplify a wholesome, stable, and productive marriage, as God intended.
The experience caused me to reflect on the many single-parent families in our land and how that phenomenon has surged in my lifetime. Note the quote below.
The 20th century brought about many shifts in U.S. family demography, with the rise in single-parent households among the most pronounced of these changes. Contrary to earlier centuries, single-parent households were more likely than ever to result from divorce or nonmarital childbirth, as opposed to death. In 1960, the U.S. Census reported that 9 percent of children were dependent on a single parent, a number that increased to 27 percent in 2010. This dramatic spike in the number of single-parent-family households was a direct result of other demographic shifts, namely, upswings in rates of divorce and births to unmarried women. Source
Single-parent households, falsely normalized by our culture, pose a severe threat to the success of any society that passively tolerates this misguided acceptance. Despite society’s misguided approval, it is imperative to recognize the detrimental impact rather than erroneously considering it as beneficial.
The damage it does is primarily to the children, secondarily to the parents, and thirdly to the society at large. God’s plan is for a man and woman to get married, leave their parents’ home and start their own, nurture their children in the admonition of the Lord, and remain married until death. Ephesians 6:4 However, The Death of God also means the death of His plan and His teachings. When God becomes irrelevant, society adopts whatever they may think works best, and in most cases, they choose a path that leads to destruction. The dissolution of the home is terrible in itself, but the consequential effects are even worse.
A 1998 U.S. longitudinal study tracking over 6,400 boys for over 20 years found that children who grew up without their biological father in the home were roughly three times more likely to commit a crime that led to incarceration than children from intact families (Harper & McLanahan, 1998). Others have found that children of divorced parents are up to six times more likely to be delinquent than children from intact families (Larson, Swyers & Larson, 1995). Boys raised without their fathers were more than twice as likely to end up in jail as those raised with their fathers, and 70% of incarcerated adults come from single-parent homes (Georgia Supreme Court Commission on Children, Marriage and Family Law, 2004). Source
The single statement above, “70% of incarcerated adults come from single-parent homes” is absolutely telling.
Without quoting the massive amount of research, we know by observation that children who grow up in single-parent homes are more likely to drop out of school, join a gang, be incarcerated, commit crimes, have difficulty being employed and staying employed, depend on welfare for the rest of their lives, marry and divorce, and live in a non-married relationship. However, I admit, in some families, attributable to a determined mom and usually a committed Christian who takes her children to church, the odds can be overcome.
Just think of the extended cost to society from a male juvenile who drops out of school, can’t get a productive job, maybe becomes incarcerated, and lives on welfare. Think of the cost to society, the cost of welfare for his immediate family, the cost of incarceration, the price of a lifetime of welfare, and the potential of crime by an unproductive and unfulfilled life. It is a kick in the teeth when one realizes this lifestyle is growing instead of becoming less frequent. The child of a single-parent home is more likely to grow up and repeat his parents’ lifestyle. It becomes perpetual until there is a break in the revolving door. An unchristian society caused the problem and it has no answers.
Indiana’s Education Round Table, p. 17, 2003, concluded, “Over 25 years to 30 years, a dropout student can cost a community as much as $500,000 in public assistance, health care, and incarceration costs.” Source
- Every year, over 1.2 million students drop out of high school in the United States alone. That’s a student every 26 seconds – or 7,000 a day.[1]
- About 25% of high school freshmen fail to graduate from high school on time.[2]
- The U.S., which had some of the highest graduation rates of any developed country, now ranks 22nd out of 27 developed countries.[3] Source
Of all the problems this country faces in education, one of the most complicated, heart-wrenching and urgent is the dropout crisis. Nearly 1 million teenagers stop going to school every year.
The impact of that decision is lifelong. And the statistics are stark:
- The unemployment rate for people without a high school diploma is nearly twice that of the general population.
- Over a lifetime, a high school dropout will earn $200,000 less than a high school graduate and almost $1 million less than a college graduate.
- Dropouts are more likely to commit crimes, abuse drugs and alcohol, become teenage parents, live in poverty and commit suicide.
- Dropouts cost federal and state governments hundreds of billions of dollars in lost earnings, welfare and medical costs, and billions more for dropouts who end up in prison. NPR
An unstable home life is probably the most significant factor affecting school dropouts.
How much richer, how much more productive, how much fewer problems would we have if only parents would remain married?
A major factor in creating single-parent homes is the policies of the US government, which financially support the single mom. The liberal elite that, through government policies, have created this disaster has only one answer: through more money at the problems.
The answer is for the cultyure to re-adopt faith in Jesus Christ as Lord.