Single parent
A single (as reformed spelling also single ) person is an individual who draws up a child without the help of another adult at least 18 years. One also speaks of one-parent families .
General
Single parents are mothers or fathers who are single, widowed, permanently separated or divorced and who do not live with another adult but with their child or children in a permanent household (so-called single - parent families ). The child only has one immediate reference person, the parent who lives with him. With the other parent (if he is still alive and has ever established a relationship with the child ) there is only visiting contact.
The number of single parents in industrialized countries has increased over the past decades. The single parent family is an economically particularly vulnerable form of family and in this context is the subject of sociological and educational research.
Social support for families plays an essential role for single parents. This concerns on the one hand financial support, on the other hand advice and qualification offers and measures for the compatibility of family and work , in particular reliable, flexible and high quality child care and a work organization that allows flexibility for employees.
The term “single parent” is sometimes criticized because it is seen as discriminatory by those affected. The term is often incorrectly associated with a lack of social integration or educational quality. Therefore, it is better to speak of single-parent families. The National Poverty Conference (nak) added the term to the list of non-social words . In 2011, more than half of single mothers of children under three had to get by on less than 1,100 euros a month.
Germany
| Life form | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Married couples | 44 |
| Communities | 8th |
| Single people | 43 |
| single parent | 6th |
In Section 21 (3) of the Second Book of the Social Code , single parents appear as "persons who live with one or more minor children and are solely responsible for their care and upbringing". These can also be foster parents or grandparents , for example .
Even if both parents have custody ( parental custody ) in the legal sense, which has been the norm in Germany after a divorce since July 1, 1998 , the child usually has one parent's center of life. This decides on the everyday concerns of the child. Significant decisions must be made jointly by both parents. Unmarried parents have the option of obtaining joint custody through a declaration of custody. The relationship with the parent who does not live with the child is usually maintained through intensive social contact.
If a child lives with the separated parent for at least 50% of the time, they live the so-called “ changeover model ”. Neither parent is a single parent in this case.
Parents who have other adults living in their households are usually partnerships with children. Here only the parent has legal custody and thus the obligation to bring up children, but the other people in such a multigenerational or stepfamily usually take part in the upbringing and care of the child.
In Germany nine out of ten single parents are female; The Federal Statistical Office defines single parents as mothers and fathers who live together with one or more minor children without a spouse or partner.
Employment and Income
According to the Federal Statistical Office, 60% of single mothers were employed and 72% of single fathers were employed. Children living with single fathers are on average older than those living with single mothers. The proportion of single mothers working full-time was 42% in 2009, compared to 61% in 1996. In 2009, 20% of single mothers said they had not found a full-time job.
Single parents are more likely to live below the poverty line than parents living in the same household . Around 91% of single parents were women in 2003. Their higher risk of ending up below the poverty line is already reflected in the choice of occupation , where occupations that are significantly lower paid are usually chosen. According to the federal government's family report, around 40 percent of single parents in Germany were living on unemployment benefit II in 2008 . This is around 660,000 mothers or fathers with around one million children.
Compared to single people without children, Hartz IV recipients with children under the age of fifteen participate significantly less in in-company training, although such would greatly increase their chances on the job market.
In its 2011 study “Doing better for families”, the OECD pointed out that it is often hardly worthwhile for single parents in Germany to work, since they only have about 13% of it additionally available with an average income, because the remaining 87% correspond to daycare fees, social benefits, taxes and no state aid. In almost all OECD countries, single parents have a higher share of the salary available; conversely, in Ireland and Sweden, single parents have even less money to spend when they are employed.
Entertains
If the other parent does not or only irregularly fulfills his / her maintenance obligation, single parents are entitled to an advance maintenance payment for children up to the age of 18 .
In 2016, the Bertelsmann Foundation published a study from which it emerged that missing or insufficient maintenance payments are the main reason for a risk of poverty.
Particularities in the case of lack of income
In order to compensate for economic disadvantages, Section 21 (3) SGB II added a supplement to unemployment benefit II . However, this is not linked to custody or the local definition of single parents, but is granted to all "persons who live with one or more minor children and are solely responsible for their care and upbringing". This can also be, for example, grandparents or people who raise foster children, but usually not adult siblings of the child to be cared for.
Single parents are particularly affected by the crediting stipulated in the German Federal Government's 2010 savings package and thus the reduction in parental allowance for recipients of unemployment benefit II . In view of the government's plans to provide additional support to single parents as compensation elsewhere, critics are instead calling for family support in the form of basic child benefits to be implemented . The promotion of single parents and the promotion of marriages in tax law and in health insurance favored two mutually exclusive forms of life and increased the contradictions of family policy.
Statistics show that single parents are the group most exposed to the risk of poverty. At 40.1 percent, that is well over a quarter of the people who live in Germany. In this case, the single parents are heavily dependent on the state's social benefits (BT-Drs.17 / 12837).
Living situation
With the separation, the living situation usually worsens. A third of single mothers live in social housing, compared with only 8 percent of married women. Single parents often live in small apartments and have rarely home ownership than married parents couples. The rent burden is also highest compared with that of couples with or without children and of one-person households. The state grants housing benefits to support single parents . Whether single parents are entitled to housing benefit depends on various factors: the number of family members in the household, the amount of family income and the amount of rent. The maximum amounts are based on the local rent level, according to which each municipality is assigned to a certain rent level.
Health of single mothers and fathers
| Stresses / worries | single mothers | married mothers |
|---|---|---|
| Uncertainty about how your own future will continue | 48.8% | 26.4% |
| financial problems | 47.7% | 18.7% |
| Education and training of children | 34.5% | 27.1% |
| too many family responsibilities | 23.8% | 13.0% |
| Not being able to cope with the demands | 22.7% | 11.4% |
| not enough success | 20.3% | 7.5% |
| lack of harmony in the family | 17.9% | 4.1% |
| Problems with the housing situation | 16.6% | 6.2% |
| Feeling superfluous | 15.5% | 8.9% |
Single parents who live with at least one minor child but without a partner are considered to be burdened. Single mothers are not only financial problems but also by future fears , signs of overwork and low self-esteem more heavily than married mothers.
Single mothers are significantly more likely to suffer from kidney and liver diseases, chronic bronchitis and migraines. They report mental illnesses more than twice as often as married mothers. In addition, they suffer more and more from pain than married mothers, which means that they are more likely to feel more impaired in coping with everyday life. Especially in the lower social class, single mothers feel more affected by pain and emotional problems than married mothers. The Robert Koch Institute assumes that "here the negative effects of single parenting on individual aspects of health-related quality of life are increased by belonging to the lower social class."
Single parents and married mothers make use of doctor's appointments and cures roughly equally. However, single mothers take fewer preventive medical checkups than married mothers. The doctor's appointments are also more likely to be taken for acute complaints than for advice.
As a measure to prevent excessive health and emotional stress , a parenting course, the Palme parenting training, was developed. However, it is (as of 2009) limited to single mothers and cities in North Rhine-Westphalia .
Effects on Children
A study carried out in Australia on 1,400 children of longer-working fathers came to the conclusion that children are looking for the missing caregivers and that sons suffer more from missing fathers, and that aggression and inwardly directed behavioral problems have been proven.
Luxembourg
10% of Luxembourg households fall under the category of “single parents” ( monoparental ). Around 20,000 people live in the approx. 7,000 households concerned in Luxembourg .
59% of single parent households are unable to financially cope with unforeseen expenses; 57% find it difficult to balance their expenses with income at the end of the month; 52% are below the poverty line . Conversely, 15% of people who are described as “poor” live in single-parent households.
Around five hundred applications per month are sent to the state Fonds National de Solidarité so that it can advance the arrears of maintenance payments from the parent who is liable to pay.
The care of children has improved somewhat in recent years. However, there is still a shortage of places, especially early or late in the day or during school holidays. Some immigrant households often lack a more comprehensive family environment that could support childcare if necessary.
In income tax law , classification in the same tax bracket as married persons only applies for three years after the divorce or the death of the spouse and then expires. There is a tax credit for single parents ( Crédit d'impôt monoparental ); However, the benefits received for the child are offset against this benefit from a certain amount limit.
Literature, film and television
Single parents as main characters or important supporting roles are a common topic in literature, theater, cinema or television series. Examples of movies include the action thriller Runaway Jane - Alone Against All , the feature film Kaltes Land , the horror film Dark Water , the crime thriller Nancy Drew, Girl Detective , children's films such as The Bastard , Emil and the Three Twins as well as film drama and comedies such as Depth of Longing , The price of feelings or offer mother - search father are to be included here.
In countless TV series, single parents can be found in leading and supporting roles. For example, the farmer Ben Cartwright in Bonanza (1959–1973), the nurse Annie Logan in General Hospital (production since 1963) or Lieutenant Worf in Starship Enterprise (production years 1987-1994), Captain James T. Kirk in Starship Enterprise (production years 1966- 1969), on the other hand, is a father who lives separately from his son and mother. Porter Ricks, the father in Flipper (production years 1964–1967), Ellen Miller, the mother in Lassie (production years 1954–1957), Tony Micelli (widowed) and Angela Bower (divorced) from Wer ist der Boss (production years 1984–1992 ), Martin Kelly, the father from Hey Dad! (Production years 1984–1994), Danny Tanner, the father in Full House (production years 1987–1995), Lorelei Gilmore, the mother in Gilmore Girls (production years 2000–2007), Dr. Andrew Brown, the father in Everwood (2002-2006 production years) or Amy Gray, the mother in For All Cases Amy (1999-2005) show that single parents in television series is neither a new nor a phenomenon limited to supporting roles. The topic is also present in German series, for example in the comedy series Lukas with Lukas Lenz ( Dirk Bach ) or the RTL soap opera Ahornallee with Willi Schlosser ( Ulrich Schmissat ).
See also
- Single parent relief amount
- Patchwork family
- Key child
- Swiss Association of Single Mothers and Fathers
- Tax splitting III
- Single Mothers by Choice
Web links
- zeit.de (2011): Children have no problem with single parents
- us census, single parents and core families: harmonization by 2050
Individual evidence
- ↑ Wolfgang Erler: Single parents in Germany: The career of a topic in research and social policy. (PDF; 42 kB) DJI, archived from the original on December 22, 2015 ; accessed on May 26, 2020 . , P. 1
- ↑ Dossier single parents (PDF; 1.7 MB), pp. 9-10 (accessed on March 4, 2012)
- ^ National Poverty Conference. February 25, 2013. List of social non-words
- ^ "Census 2011" of the Federal Statistical Office
- ↑ Tagesspiegel, Wednesday, October 12, 2011, page 20. Source: Federal Statistical Office
- ↑ a b Federal Statistical Office, information on 2009. Quoted from: Federal Statistical Office: Number of employed, single mothers is increasing. stern.de, July 30, 2010, accessed July 30, 2010 .
- ↑ 660,000 single parents live on Hartz IV , Spiegel Online from February 16, 2009
- ↑ Single parents in Hartz IV: Lack of childcare makes it difficult to participate in company training measures . Press release of the Institute for Employment Research from October 27, 2011. Short report (PDF; 460 kB)
- ↑ Learning in day care: the earlier, the better. In: www.sueddeutsche.de. April 28, 2011, accessed March 24, 2018 .
- ↑ Poverty among single parents due to lack of maintenance payments , last accessed on October 17, 2016.
- ↑ Technical information from the Federal Employment Agency on Section 21 SGB II marg. 21.7 ff., As of December 20, 2008 (also as PDF ( memento of January 18, 2012 in the Internet Archive )).
- ^ Elisabeth Niejahr: Single parents: Too much help. Die Zeit, October 7, 2010 No. 41, October 8, 2010, accessed on October 17, 2010 .
- ↑ Federal Ministry for Family, Seniors, Women and Youth: Documentation of the symposium "Single parenting in Germany" ( Memento from 23 September 2015 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF)
- ↑ Information on the subject of housing benefit from the Association of Single Mothers and Fathers Federal Association
- ↑ a b Robert Koch Institute / Federal Statistical Office: Federal Health Reporting, Volume 14: Health of Single Mothers and Fathers ( Memento from July 12, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Help for single parents: Palme parent training. WDR, December 2, 2009, archived from the original on May 13, 2010 ; Retrieved February 26, 2010 .
- ↑ Lena Schipper: Overworked fathers are more likely to have sons with behavioral problems , in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung of August 22, 2013
- ↑ Anja Nehls: Absent fathers can harm boys - study on the effects of a lack of interaction with a parent in dradio "Campus & Karriere" from August 29, 2013
- ^ Josée Hansen: La course des monoparentaux . D'Lëtzebuerger Land , November 25, 2011, p. 2f
