Capital Region Cares
Children Need Family
We often say that our accomplishments in life depend on the help we get from others . That
could be a coach in sports , a teacher or a mentor in business .
For children , long before they need a teacher , coach or mentor , the best foundation for success is support from family . Research suggests that children raised in single-parent households may have disadvantages and less support . Approximately 35 percent of U . S . families are single-parent households , according to the Annie E . Casey Foundation ’ s Kids Count Data Center ; that is about 24 million children .
Most often , the single parent is a mother . The U . S . Census Bureau reports that 14 percent of households in Sacramento County are headed by single mothers . Statistics for other counties in the Capital Region are similar , the lowest being about 9 percent .
Children who grow up in households without a father are four times more likely to live in poverty and twice as likely to drop out of high school , according to Rick Jennings , a Sacramento city councilman and CEO of the nonprofit Center for Fathers and Families .
A 1998 study by the U . S . Department of Justice reported that 63 percent of youth suicides are from fatherless homes . Parenting classes are a part of the rehabilitation curriculum in state prisons because many inmates — 70 percent , according to the Center for Fathers and Families — grew up in fatherless homes .
There are nonprofits in the region with the mission to keep families together . Defending The Cause Regional Alliance is a network of three-dozen nonprofit organizations that , with help from counseling professionals and churches , provide family-centered activities and mentoring for parents , among other services .
Jennings knows firsthand the value of having a father figure to lean on . He credits an uncle for coming into his life “ at just the right time ” to give him the guidance and support that steered him to acquiring a college education , working a few years as a professional football player and pursuing a career in criminology . The Center for Fathers and Families teaches men to become better dads . Many of the 1,100 men a month who cycle through the program grew up without fathers . They are stepping up to break that generational cycle of absent fathers to support their children as they earn certificates in classes that teach skills in parenting , health and finance .
The willingness of these men to learn parenting skills for the sake of their kids ’ future is encouraging . It might take a village to raise a child , but that effort starts with a supportive family .
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