More kids missing dads in Connecticut

Suzanne Bates
Raising Hale
2/5/2013

The number of children raised in single-parent homes is on the rise in Connecticut, especially in the state’s biggest cities.

Statewide the number of children living with single moms went up five percent over the past ten years, from 19 percent to 24 percent, according to census data.

In Hartford almost six out of ten children are now living with a single mom – and in some Hartford neighborhoods that number is as high as eight in ten. Almost half of the children living in Bridgeport and Waterbury live with a single mom, while in New Haven the number is slightly higher than half.

The public policy implications of this jump are big for the state, especially given the way young people are affected by not having a father in the home…

…It is hard to know what is causing the rise in single-mother homes. It has not been brought on by a rise in teenage pregnancies. The number of teens having babies continues to fall nationwide and in Connecticut. In fact, the average age of a first-time Connecticut mother is 27, nearly the oldest in the nation.

While what is causing the rise is hard to pin down, the research on the effect fathers have on their children is clear…

Read the entire post at Raising Hale.

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