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US Dept. of Health & Human Services,
Bureau of the Census.
Children from fatherless homes account for:
63% of youth suicides
71% of pregnant teenagers. (Source: US Dept. of Health & Human
Services)
90% of all homeless and runaway children.
70% of juveniles in state-operated institutions come from
fatherless homes (Source: U.S. Dept. of Justice, Special Report, Sept
1988)
85% of all children that exhibit behavioral disorders. (Source:
Center for Disease Control).
80% of rapists motivated with displaced anger. (Source: Criminal
Justice & Behavior, Vol. 14, p. 403-26, 1978).
71% of all high school dropouts. (Source: National Principals
Association Report on the State of High Schools).
75% of all adolescent patients in chemical abuse centers. (Source:
Rainbows for all God`s Children).
85% of all youths sitting in prisons. (Source: Fulton Co. Georgia
jail populations, Texas Dept. of Corrections 1992).
Children from fatherless homes are:
11 times more likely to exhibit violent behavior than children from
intact "married" homes.
5 times more likely to commit suicide.
32 times more likely to runaway.
20 times more likely to have behavioral disorders.
14 times more likely to commit rape.
9 times more likely to drop out of high school.
10 times more likely to abuse chemical substances.
9 times more likely to end up in state-operated institutions.
20 times more likely to end up in prison.
37.9% of fathers have no access/visitation rights. (Source: p.6,
col.II, para. 6, lines 4 & 5, Census Bureau P-60, #173, Sept 1991.)
"40% of mothers reported that they had interfered with thenon-custodial father's visitation on at least one occasion, to punishthe
ex-spouse." (Source: p. 449, col. II, lines 3-6, (citing Fulton)Frequency of visitation by Divorced Fathers; Differences in
Reports by Fathersand Mothers. Sanford Braver et al, Am. J. of Orthopsychiatry, 1991.)
"Overall, approximately 50% of mothers "see no value in the father`s
continued contact with his children...." (Source: Surviving the Breakup, Joan Kelly & Judith Wallerstein, p. 125) Only 11%
of mothers value
Their husband's input when it comes to handling problems with their kids.
Teachers & doctors rated 45%, and close friends & relatives rated %16.(Source:
EDK
Associates survey of 500 women for Redbook Magazine. Redbook, November
1994, p. 36)
"The former spouse (mother) was the greatest obstacle to having more
frequent contact with the children." (Source: Increasing our
understanding offathers who have infrequent contact with their children, James
Dudley, FamilyRelations, Vol. 4, p. 281, July 1991.)
"A clear majority (70%) of fathers felt that they had too little time with
their children." (Source: Visitation and the Noncustodial Father, Mary Ann
Kock & Carol Lowery, Journal of Divorce, Vol. 8, No. 2, p. 54, Winter
1984.)
"Very few of the children were satisfied with the amount of contactwith their fathers, after divorce." (Source: Visitation
and the NoncustodialFather, Koch & Lowery, Journal of Divorce and Remarriage, Vol. 8, No. 2, p. 50,Winter 1984.)
"Feelings of anger towards their former spouses hindered effective involvement
on the part of fathers; angry mothers would sometimes sabotage
father'sefforts to visit their children." (Source: Ahrons and Miller, Am.
Journal ofOrthopsychiatry, Vol. 63. p. 442, July 1993.)
"Mothers may prevent visits to retaliate against fathers for problems in their
marital or post-marital relationship." (Source: Seltzer, Shaeffer & Charing, Journal of Marriage & the Family, Vol. 51, p.
1015, November 1989.)
In a study: "Visitational Interference - A National Study" by Ms. JAnnette Vanini, M.S.W. and Edward Nichols, M.S.W., it was
found that 77% ofnon-custodial fathers are NOT able to "visit" their children, as ordered by the court, as a result of "visitation
interference" perpetuated by thecustodial parent. In other words, non-compliance with court ordered visitationis three times
the problem of non-compliance with court ordered child supportand impacts the children of divorce even more. Originally published
Sept. 1992
Prevent Child Abuse America
2001 Figures on cost of child abuse and neglect
$24,384,347,302.00 = Direct Costs
(Hospitalization, General Health Problems, Mental Health Problems,
Welfare Costs, Law Enforcement, Judicial System, and Etc.)
$69,692,535,227.00 = Indirect Costs
(Special Education, Mental Health Problems, Juvenile Delinquency,
Lost Productivity, Adult Criminality, and Etc.)
$94,076,882,529.00 = Total Costs
The Risks To Which Our Courts Expose Our Children
Children from fatherless homes account for:
63% of youth suicides. (Source: US Dept. of Health & Human Services,
Bureau of the Census).
71% of pregnant teenagers. (Source: US Dept. of Health & Human
Services)
90% of all homeless and runaway children. (Source: US Dept. of Health
& Human Services)
70% of juveniles in state-operated institutions come from fatherless
homes (Source: U.S. Dept. of Justice, Special Report, Sept 1988)
85% of all children that exhibit behavioral disorders. (Source:
Center for Disease Control).
80% of rapists motivated with displaced anger. (Source: Criminal
Justice & Behavior, Vol. 14, p. 403-26, 1978).
71% of all high school dropouts. (Source: National Principals
Association Report on the State of High Schools).
75% of all adolescent patients in chemical abuse centers. (Source:
Rainbows for all God`s Children).
85% of all youths sitting in prisons. (Source: Fulton Co. Georgia
jail populations, Texas Dept. of Corrections 1992).
In addition, children of divorced families who do NOT have regular and meaningful contact with their father denied are at
much higher risk for incarceration (jail), psychiatric illness, child abuse and even death. As Follows;.................................
Fatherless youth at higher risk for jail - study
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Young men who grow up in homes without fathers are twice as likely to end up in jail as those who
come from traditional two-parent families, according to a new study released Thursday.
Cynthia Harper of the University of Pennsylvania and Sara S. McLanahan of Princeton University tracked a sample of6,000 males
aged 14-22 from 1979-93.
They found that those boys whose fathers were absent from the household had double the odds of being incarcerated --even when
other factors such as race, income, parent education and urban residence were held constant.
Surprisingly, those boys who grow up with a step-father in the home were at even higher risk for incarceration, roughlythree
times that of children who remain with both of their natural parents, according to a study being presented at ameeting of
the American Sociological Association Friday.
``Remarriage of parents doesn't help,'' Harper said. ``A step-parent in the household doesn't erase the father absentproblem.''
The sociologists launched their study in an effort to shed new light on the increase of youth violence between the late1980's
and early 1990's.
``It has become a lot less unusual for youth to become involved in violent crime,'' Harper said. ``I wanted to see if therewas
any connection between youth violence and major family changes that have occurred over the last few decades.''
Overall, the U.S. youth crime rate rose by 43 percent between 1989 and 1993. Since then, however, the youth violentcrime rate
dropped by about 25 percent, according to Justice
Department figures.
Officials have credited the drop, which mirrored a wider drop in overall crime rates, in part to new community policinginitiatives
and tougher penalties for youth crime.
Still, juveniles accounted for nearly one out of five arrests for violent crimes in 1996. And youths aged 12 to 17 werethree
times as likely as adults to be victims of a violent crime in 1994, Justice Department figures show.
Incarceration can lead to further crime, according to specialists. A 1997 study at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas,found
that juveniles who went to jail were twice as likely to commit another crime than those who were sent to aalternative programs.
The study of 271 at-risk youths also found that the juveniles sent to
jail were three times more likely to commit a violentcrime than those sent to other programs.
Harper and McLanahan's study found that young men whose parents part
ways during their adolescence were roughly1-1/2 times as likely to end up in jail as children from intact families -- faring
slightly better than boys who are born to
single mothers.
It also found that, while whites have lower rates of father absenteeism than blacks, when families do split white youth areat
a higher risk of incarceration than their black peers.
Child support payments did not appear to make a significant difference in the odds of incarceration, but the presence oflive-in
grandparents in households without fathers ``appears to help improve youths' chances of avoiding incarceration,''the study
found.
Reuters Reproduced under the Fair Use exceptions of 17 U.S.C. 107
Early parental loss a risk factor for adult psychiatric illness Children who lose a parent early in life, either by death
or permanent separation, appear more likely than others to develop schizophrenia, depression or bipolar disorder as adults.
The finding
comes from a large Israeli case-control study involving nearly 80 patients each with major depression, bipolar disorder or
schizophrenia and an equal number of healthy controls. Study director, Dr. B. Lerer of Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical
Center
in Jerusalem, Israel, and a multicenter team found that the rates of parental loss during childhood were significantly higher
among patients with psychiatric disorders in this population than in controls. Specifically, loss of a parent during childhood
significantly increased the risk of major depression in adulthood by 3.8-fold, according to a report in the February 13th
issue of Molecular Psychiatry. Parental loss during childhood was 2.6 times more likely in participants with bipolar disorder
and 3.8 times more likely in those with schizophrenia compared with controls. The effect
of parental loss on the development of psychiatric disorders was more striking if the loss was due to permanent separation
rather than death, and if the loss occurred before the age of 9 years. And, "[a] though not significant in this analysis,
loss of mother had a
stronger effect than loss of father in patients with [major depression], as did loss of both parents," Dr. Lerer and others
note. Early parental loss also significantly increased the risks of smoking, physical illness, divorce, lower income and living
alone in
later life. The findings add early parental loss to the list of known environmental factors that increase susceptibility to
major depression, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. In fact, the Israeli team speculates that early parental loss may be
a nonspecific risk
factor for psychiatric illness in adulthood, with a degree of specificity for major depression and schizophrenia. One possible
explanation for this association, they propose, is that early parental loss negatively effects responsiveness to stress in
adulthood. In a related editorial, Dr. C. B. Nemeroff, of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, comments that the findings
add to accumulating evidence that "...untoward life events early in life... appear to increase vulnerability to several major
psychiatric
disorders including affective and anxiety disorders." Such "untoward events" include both parental loss and child abuse and
neglect, he notes. "Perhaps these data will lend support for the call for a national study of the prevalence rate of child
abuse and neglect,"
Dr. Nemeroff hopes. He adds, "We owe it to our patients, our children and ourselves."
The Heritage Foundation report, "The Child Abuse Crisis: The
Disintegration of Marriage, Family, and the American Community," May 15, 1997 notes that: "[due to] ... the disintegration
of family and community ... America's infants and young chilren, about 2,000 of whom -- 6 per day -- die each year," and provides
the following estimate:
1. Total Children Killed Per Year: 2,000
Killed by Mothers 1,100 (55.0%)
Killed by live-in boyfriends 0513 ( 25.7%)
Killed by Stepfathers 0250 (12.5%)
Killed by Biological Fathers 0137 (6.9%)
This study demonstrates that the least dangerous place for a child
after divorce is with the father by a margin of over 14 to 1 ( 2000 /
137 = 14.5985 ).
Stepfathers and live-in boyfriends are associated with the mother's
household and therefore a child is 14 times more likely to be killed
in the mother's care.
Excluding Stepfathers and Live-in boyfriends, mothers are 8 times as
likely to kill a child than the biological father.
CHILD ABUSE INJURIES:
Almost 1 million children were the victims of substantiated or
indicated child abuse and neglect in 1996, an approximate 18 percent
increase since 1990. Each year over 18,000 children are permanently
disabled by abusers. For comparison, the number of adults disabled by
spouse abuse is less than one dozen. Child Maltreatment 1996: Reports
from the States to the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System ,
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, (Washington, D.C.: U.S.
Government Printing Office, 1998). Seventy-seven percent of
perpetrators of child maltreatment were parents, an additional 11
percent were other relatives. Over 80 percent of all perpetrators
were under age 40. Over two-thirds were mothers. Three-quarters of
neglect and medical neglect cases were associated with mother
perpetrators as were almost three-quarters of sexual abuse.
http://www.acfc.org/study/dhhs1.htm
Single Mother Households (SMH) - the most dangerous living
arrangement
In Single Mother Households, 422 children are fatally abused each
year.
In Single Father Households, 25 children are fatally abused each
year.
In Dual Parent Families, 16 children are fatally abused each year.
430 children are killed by firearm accidents each year
322 are killed in Single Mother Households (SMH).
Single Mother Households account for over 70% of fatal child abuse
and accidental firearm deaths.
Source: Donna Shalala, "National Child Abuse Prevention Month"
and "Child Maltreatment 1994:
Reports to the National Center on Child
Abuse". http://www.acf.dhhs.gov/programs/cb/stats/ncands96/index.htm.
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