Being a parent is the toughest job on the planet, even with a partner and strong extended family to rely on. It’s even tougher for the 13.6 million single parents out there, most of them mothers. The numbers are set to rise sharply - today, 40% of the children born in the United States are born to unmarried mothers, up from 15% in 1980.

We should be doing more to help them and the approx. 21 million children being raised in single-parent households.

Outside of programs such as the Freedom Dividend to raise them out of poverty and support their ability to provide food and housing for their family, the best thing we can do for these parents is to help them find and build a support network.