Father’s Day Shines Spotlight On Chronic Public Health Issue In U.S.
Advocates say that fatherlessness can be one of "the greatest trauma that young people face," and that its negative health impact on children needs to be taken seriously.
USA Today:
Millions Of U.S. Kids Are Growing Up Without A Father In Their Lives
Father’s Day is different when there’s no father around."What do these days mean to children like me who had to grow up without one parent in their lives?" asks Louis Steptoe, 18, who just graduated from high school here. Instead, he celebrates what he calls "Father Figure Day" and honors his godfather, William Ford, who "was always present." Kaylynn Tobin, 12, of Rockville, Maryland, met her father only once, years ago, and barely remembers him. Her sister Aras, 10, has a different father and sometimes gets gifts from him. But she doesn’t have a good relationship with her father. (O'Donnell and Lewter, 6/15)
Meanwhile —
NPR:
Millennial Stay-At-Home Dads: Isolation And Stigma Still A Problem
The number of men in the United States who are full-time, stay-at-home parents has risen steadily in recent decades, from maybe a million or so in 1984, according to a Pew Research Center estimate, to roughly double that in 2014. That's still much smaller than the number of stay-at-home moms, of course, and many of the challenges these dads face are universal to parenting. "It's a tough job," says Ben Sanders, who's raising two young boys in Haymarket, Va. His kids are 3 ½ and 6 ½ years old. "There are no breaks. It's 24/7. There's no vacation. You can't get sick." (Beaubien, 6/17)
