thers and the actual role of fathers.Now, the fastest growing family unit in the United States are single fathers with sole custody of children under the age of 18. In 1970, there were 393,000 single fathers with sole custody. That number jumped to 1.9 million in 1996. Of these numbers, 48% are divorced, 28% were never married, 18% were seperated, and 5% are widowed. underlying this gradual shift is the attitude more and more people are taking towards men and womens societal roles. Along with being more career oriented, women are starting to feel less guilty about losing custody to their partner, and are finding that they aren't always the more suitable parent. At the same time, men are no longer feeling such a strong need to be defined by their job. Also, fathers fear that once they are divorced, they will rarely see their kids, and do not want to be part-time parents. Father-by-default families are another contributing factor to the shift. In this case, the mothers were either not found, or had drug-addiction or alcohol dependency problems, and child welfare agencies sought the fathers. This is most prominent in poverty stricken families. Single father adoption numbers have jumped significantly as well thanks to gay fathers rights groups, and political pressure from the gay community. Single Father Numbers (US)1990 - 2010 1990 1995 2000NumberPercentNumber Number PercentTOTAL1,553 100% 1,366 1,523 100%Younger than 25 96 8.3% 90 102 6.7%25 to 34 349 30.2% 437 482 31.6%35 to 44 458 39.7% 544 604 39.7%45 to 54 193 16.7% 220 259 17.0%55 to 64 38 3.3% 48 55 3.6%65 to 74 13 1.1% 12 11 0.7%75 and older 7 0.6% 7 10 0.6% 2005* 2010*NumberNumberPercent TOTAL1,598 1,660 100%Younger than 25 113 120 7.2% 25 to 34 ...
