Single parent

A single parent is an uncoupled individual who shoulders most or all of the day-to-day responsibilities for raising a child or children. A mother is more often the primary caregiver in a single-parent family structure that has arisen due to divorce or unplanned pregnancy.

Historically, death of a partner was a major cause of single parenting. Single parenting can also result from the breakup or divorce of coupled parents. Custody battles, awarded by the court or rationalized in other terms, determine who the child will spend majority of their time with. In western society in general, following the separation of a heterosexual couple, a child is placed with the primary caregiver, usually the mother, while the secondary caregiver is usually the father., though the reverse does happen and joint custody is on the rise.

Fathers have been the less common primary caregiver in the recent past, presumably due to the father working most of the day resulting in less bonding with the children, or possibly a young child needing to still nurse, or if childcare was necessary while the father works, the mother would be seen to be better suited while fathers works. This scenario has shifted in recent years, as many fathers are taking an active parental role as a stay-at-home dad as more mothers are in the workforce and being the sole provider to the family, resulting in fathers bonding and connecting more to their children.

Unwed Mother

Unwed Mother is a novel by Gloria D. Miklowitz. First published in 1977, it was reprinted in 1985. The story deals with a fourteen-year-old girl's pregnancy and her relationship with her baby's father.

Story

Kathy Sellers is the daughter of lower middle-class parents, living in Los Angeles, California. Her mother Helen is on her fourth marriage to Mike, an unemployed man who uses his back as an excuse to avoid work, and living with them are Kathy's 16-year-old twin sisters, Mona and Dona.

After a sexual encounter with her 18-year-old boyfriend Guy, Kathy learns she is pregnant. She is sent to live at St. Anne's, a home for unwed mothers until her delivery, which happens not long after her fifteenth birthday. After he initially reacts with outrage, she does extract a promise from Guy (who enters the Army) that he will send for her once he gets settled. Despite her regular series of letters to Guy in the military, he doesn't reciprocate. Thus, that day never comes for Kathy.

Unwed Mother (film)

Unwed Mother is a 1958 American feature film directed by Walter A. Doniger. It starred Norma Moore, Robert Vaughn, Billie Bird, Diana Darrin and Timothy Carey.

The plot revolves around Betty Miller (Norma Moore), a country girl who moves from a farming community to Los Angeles. She falls in love with a smooth-talking grifter, Don Bigelow (Robert Vaughn), who gets her pregnant, then abandons her. After visiting a drunken abortionist (Timothy Carey), Betty decides to give the baby up for adoption. But eventually she comes to regret that decision and pursues the foster parents who adopted her child.

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