Who Will Support Fatherless Children?

We've recently celebrated Father's Day, but more and more Americans are growing up in households where a father is missing. In my CNN column, I discuss the negative implications of this:

Almost every parent has heard the question:

"If Mother's Day is in May and Father's Day is in June, when is it children's day?"

Almost every parent has delivered the same answer:

"Every day is children's day."

Maybe we owe a better answer than that.

Yesterday, millions of American families presented dad with barbecue implements or a greeting card or possibly a bottle of whiskey. Nice! Thank you!

But for more and more American families, Father's Day arrives as a reminder of what is missing. The Pew foundation estimates that 27% of Americans younger than 18 live apart from their fathers.

While many separated fathers struggle manfully to sustain relationships with their children, the struggles usually end in failure. Fewer than half of separated fathers see their children as often as once a week.

The fate of the American family is a complicated story that arouses passionate emotions.

There is no simple morality tale here. Fathers can be absent for many reasons. There are vast realms of the Internet devoted to arguing whether America's epidemic of fatherlessness is primarily the fault of irresponsible men or vengeful women. Does it matter?

Here's what we do know:

-- Fatherlessness has become much more common since 1970, when less than 15% of American children lived apart from their fathers.

-- Fatherlessness is associated with an array of negative outcomes including aggravated likelihood of drug and alcohol abuse, reduced educational achievement, and increased odds of prison incarceration.

-- Rates of fatherlessness stabilized in the 2000s. But because today's bad economic times have hit male earnings harder than women's earnings, the unemployment crisis could likely send the fatherlessness rate spiking again.

Click here to read the column.