by Tony Rucinski, Coalition for Marriage
Over the weekend, I addressed a sizeable gathering of single mothers on how to mitigate the well‑evidenced risks children face when raised without two committed parents. The event followed a marriage conference in a large church where single parents asked for a practical session tailored to them. That heartfelt request underlines the pressures facing families in the UK today.
Matt Goodwin has made this point starkly: “The British family is imploding.” He highlights findings that many in public life prefer to ignore: by the age of 14, 46% of UK children are not living with both natural parents.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies reaches the same sober conclusion about Britain’s family exceptionalism: “A notable hallmark of British families is their greater fragility and complexity as compared with families in other western European countries. More children are born into lone mother families and there are higher rates of parental separation.”
The Children’s Commissioner’s Independent Family Review sets the wider scene. In 2021, in the UK, 23% of families were headed by a lone parent, compared with the 13% European average. It also confirms that many children will not live their whole childhood with both biological parents. These are not abstract numbers. They show up in children’s life chances, community cohesion and the public finances.