As we continue to celebrate February as Black History Month it is always important for us to focus on members of our family especially the children.
Recent data supplied by the Children’s Defense Fund revealed that a significant number of our kids are being raised out side of the nuclear family that includes a husband, his wife, and children.
The reliable consanguineal or extended family that includes parents and children co-reside with other members of one parent's family is also fading away among the Africans American and Black communities. About five percent of our Black children live with grandparents and just over two percent live with other relatives.
Several studies cited the absence of family structure for the social and economic challenges affecting our children. As many of our children are left without family support systems, they are often face with daunting challenges.
For example, fewer than 40 percent of all Black children live with two parents, compared to about 75 percent of White children. Over 70 percent of Black babies are born to unmarried mothers, more than twice the rate for White babies and higher than any other racial or ethnic group.
Black children are more than twice as likely as other children to live with neither parent, while fifty percent of Black children live with only their mother who in most cases cannot afford to maintain the children.
According to the Children’s Defense Fund the median income for a Black female-headed household with one or more children and without a husband present was $22,158, barely above the poverty level for a family of three. Almost half of Black female-headed households with children were poor.
Low income, unemployment, lack of prenatal care, poor health and being uninsured, put young children at high risk of entering the ‘cradle to prison pipeline.’ Black youth also have the highest unemployment rate and nearly one in three Black high school graduates age 16 to 24 are unemployed.
While there are several other issues contributing negatively to the social and economic well-being of African Americans, the absence of the family structure has compounded the problems.
As we celebrate February as Black History Month, let us give our children a “family.”
Recent data supplied by the Children’s Defense Fund revealed that a significant number of our kids are being raised out side of the nuclear family that includes a husband, his wife, and children.
The reliable consanguineal or extended family that includes parents and children co-reside with other members of one parent's family is also fading away among the Africans American and Black communities. About five percent of our Black children live with grandparents and just over two percent live with other relatives.
Several studies cited the absence of family structure for the social and economic challenges affecting our children. As many of our children are left without family support systems, they are often face with daunting challenges.
For example, fewer than 40 percent of all Black children live with two parents, compared to about 75 percent of White children. Over 70 percent of Black babies are born to unmarried mothers, more than twice the rate for White babies and higher than any other racial or ethnic group.
Black children are more than twice as likely as other children to live with neither parent, while fifty percent of Black children live with only their mother who in most cases cannot afford to maintain the children.
According to the Children’s Defense Fund the median income for a Black female-headed household with one or more children and without a husband present was $22,158, barely above the poverty level for a family of three. Almost half of Black female-headed households with children were poor.
Low income, unemployment, lack of prenatal care, poor health and being uninsured, put young children at high risk of entering the ‘cradle to prison pipeline.’ Black youth also have the highest unemployment rate and nearly one in three Black high school graduates age 16 to 24 are unemployed.
While there are several other issues contributing negatively to the social and economic well-being of African Americans, the absence of the family structure has compounded the problems.
As we celebrate February as Black History Month, let us give our children a “family.”
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