Children With Behavioral Disorders in Single Parent Homes Essays

Unfortunately, we live in a world were economic times are tough. It can be a struggle for parents to adequately support children - especially if there is only one parent. According to Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development about 15.9 percent of children world wide live in single-parent households. In the United states alone there are approximately 13.7 million single parents today, and those parents are responsible for raising 21.8 million children (approximately 26% of children under 21 in the U.S. today). The question we must ask is, What struggles and psychological effect does separation and divorce have on the parents as well as the children? Divorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties. In most countries divorce requires the sanction of a court or other authority in a legal process. The legal process for divorce may also involve issues of spousal support, child custody, child support, distribution of property and division of debt. Shared custody is awarded in approximately twenty percent of all divorce child custody cases. When shared custody is not awarded, the court will award one parent sole custody of the child. A court may also award a parent joint custody. Joint custody is a court order whereby custody of a child is awarded to both parties. In joint custody both parents are "custodial parents" and neither parent is a non-custodial parent; or, in other words, the child has two custodial parents. Seventy percent of all child custody cases name the mother as the custodial parent. A â€Å"b roken family† will effect the mother, father and child in different ways; with mothers usua... ...1%) as likely to have one or more total problems than those from two-parent families, twice as likely to have an emotional disorder, etc(National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth ). Works Cited See e.g., Cal. Fam. Code sect. 3004 http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?section=fam&group=02001-03000&file=3000-3007 1988 Census "Child Support and Alimony: 1989 Series" P-60, No. 173 p.6-7, and "U.S. General Accounting Office Report" GAO/HRD-92-39FS January 1992 Center for Disease Control National Principals Association Report on the State of High Schools Fulton County Georgia Jail Populations and Texas Dept. of Corrections, 1992 GROWING UP IN CANADA, National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (Human Resources Development Canada, Statistics Canada, Catalogue no. 89-550-MPE, no.1, November 1996, p. 91) Available from StatCan.