 Single parents families
consist on families where a
parent raises his child
without the support of a
spouse or a partner, due to
divorce, or death of the
other parent, for example.
In recent years, the number
of single parents families
has increased substantially.

 Most single parents families are
mother-only, meaning that it is
the mother who raises the
children. In Italy, for
example, 90% of single parents
families are mother-only.
 Still, the number of father-only
families have increased 25%
worldwide. Normally, it's the
father who gets custody of the
children when the child is an older
girl or a boy.

 Single parenting is extremely
challenging. Single parents have to
cope with an overload of
tasks, decisions, and
responsibilities, which can be
overwhelming for a single person.
Studies show that help from friends
and family can minimize the
challenges of single parenting, but
when that help is inexistent, the
single parent normally loses
custody of the children.