We all have chips and cracks in our families: Broken Homes and Dysfunction
In spite of the fact that so many families have one parent in the household there is still a lot of stigma around being a single mom. According to the "Marital Status and Living Arrangements: March 1998 Update" by Terry A. Lugaila at the US Census Bureau: "As of March 1998 Current Population Survey, 19.8 million children under the age of 18 lived with one parent-this translates to 27.7 percent of all children under the age of 18." When I first was divorced I didn't hear the words "broken home" or dysfunctional all that much. They seem to have become catch-all phrases in the last 20 years when the rate of divorce became high. When I first heard Oprah Winfrey use the word broken home, I was appalled. She of all people should know better! When I read the term in an article by Marian Wright Edelman, founder and president of the Children's Defense Fund (CDF), who had been an advocate for disadvantaged Americans for her entire professional career...