Where’s the village?

The challenges faced by single fathers are no different from those experienced by single mothers, Michael Lacey of North Little Rock concedes.

But, he says, “There’s nothing out there for single dads.”

A recent Pew Research Center analysis of Census Bureau data shows that in 2011, 8 percent of American households with minor children were headed by single fathers, up from 1 percent in 1960, a ninefold increase. That translates to 300,000 single fathers — men whose minor children lived or stayed with them for at least two months — in 1960 to 2.6 million in 2011. That’s still not a lot, comparatively speaking. During that same time, the number of families headed by single mothers rose from 1.9 million to 8.6 million.

In Arkansas, the percentage of households led by single fathers is slightly lower. See tomorrow’s Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for more from Lacey and other single fathers trying to make it on their own in Arkansas.

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