ABSTRACT
In 1977, the National Council for One Parent Families prepared a guide to cheap holidays for one-parent families–approximately 2,000 were distributed. There is a growing knowledge of the circumstances of one-parent families, for example, their poverty; their relatively poor housing conditions; limited opportunities to work; social isolation; their public and private image; and their responsibilities in single-handed parenthood. Many one-parent families internalize the public image and label themselves as different and abnormal, which adds weight to their sense of personal failure and self-doubt. The most significant factor about one-parent families in this country is that they are poor, and that their poverty is both acute and chronic. Family Expenditure Survey data also shows that one-parent families, compared with two-parent families, are less likely to have incomes derived from wages and are more likely to be dependent upon Social Security benefits. Almost all parents reported that they did have leisure activities.
