Fatherlessness In The National Capital Region

Fatherhood is foundational to strong families, and strong families are essential to a strong nation. An absent father affects all aspects of a child’s life, from socio-cognitive and socio-emotional development to academic performance and criminality. Unfortunately, the effects of fatherlessness are especially visible in Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia.

Fatherlessness in the united StateS

• Approximately 18.4 million children in the United States live without a biological father, stepfather, or adoptive father present in the home.
• 23% of children in the United States are raised by a single parent. This is more than three times the world average (7%) of children raised by a single parent, and the highest rate of any country on Earth.
• Approximately 41% of children are born to unwed mothers. For women under age 30, the unwed birth rate increases to 53%.
• Fathers are absent in approximately 80% of single-parent homes.
• Fatherless children are more likely to suffer from psychosocial development issues, live in poverty, drop out of school, engage in school violence, abuse substances, and enter the juvenile justice system.
• 63% of youth suicide victims, 90% of all homeless and runaway children, 70% of juveniles in state-operated institutes, 85% of youths in prisons, and 80% of rapists come from fatherless homes.

CHILD OUTCOMES IN MARYLAND

• According to the Baltimore City Health Department, 58% of the city’s children live in single-parent households.
• As of 2019, roughly 191,342 Maryland children live with a single mother.
• In 2020, Maryland had 27,940 births to unmarried mothers or about 41% of all births.
• 41% of Baltimore’s public high school students earn below a 1.0-grade point average.
• In Baltimore City Public Schools, only 15% of high school students test at or above the proficient level for reading, and only 8% test at or above that level for math.
• As of 2019, there was 68,000 youth aged 16-24 not attending school or working in the state of Maryland, or about 10% of the total.

CHILD OUTCOMES IN VIRGINIA

• About 553,000 children in Virginia live in single-parent households or 32% of all Virginia’s children.
  • Around 60% of all Black children, 22% of all white children, and 37% of all Latino live in single-parent homes in Virginia.
• Roughly 83,000 teens and young adults in Virginia are not working or attending school.
• Virginia has 4,773 children in foster care.
• There are 918 juveniles in correctional facilities in Virginia, for a rate of 109 per 100,000.

CHILD OUTCOMES IN WASHINGTON D.C.

• Roughly 63,000 children in D.C. live in single-parent families, for 53% of all children.
• 77% of Black births in D.C. are to unmarried mothers, as are 55% of all Hispanic births.
• 83% of D.C. teenagers aged 15 to 17 were raised in a non-intact family.
• One out of three high school students in D.C. public schools drop out of school, including 40% of low-income students.