Single Parent Financial Lifesaver

Being a single parent means twice the work, twice the tears, and twice the stress. And they are faced with constant challenges that they must navigate through with small resources. In the United States today, nearly 24 million children live in a single parent family, which covers about one in every three kids. Lives of children in single parent families are generally difficult, but the death of the parent is infinitely more grueling for them. Especially when they realize the floor under their feet has cracked and the downward spiral unravels as they are left to fend for themselves, with no money, home or security. You can avoid that fate, or more specifically your kids can, if you decide to protect your life with insurance today and make sure your sudden loss doesn’t immediately turn their lives into disasters. Your death benefit from life insurance could be the floor underneath them in your absence and provide them with the support they need. Please read on to understand the challenges and risks that come with being a member from the single family.

^{Financial and Food Insecurity}

^{Single parent families and especially mother-only households are more likely to live in poverty compared to married parent households. Given this, kids of single parents are more likely to experience the consequences of growing up poor. Children in poverty are more likely to have physical, mental, and behavioral health problems, disrupted brain development, shorter educational trajectories, contact with the child welfare and justice systems, employment challenges in adulthood and more. Additionally, low-income kids (below or above the poverty line) often live in less safe communities with limited access to quality health care, comprehensive support services and enriching activities.}

^{These are especially true for children of color. Black and American Indian or Alaska Native kids are most likely to live in a single parent family (64% of Black children and 49% of American Indian or Alaska Native children fit this demographic, 42% and 38% of kids from these groups are Latinos). Poverty levels for Black, American Indian, or Alaska Native and Latino children are consistently above the national average, and these generations-long inequities persist regardless of family structure.}^{Hunger and food insecurity are consistently more common in some communities of color. For example, Black kids are almost three times as likely and Latino kids are nearly twice as likely to experience hunger when compared to their white peers. One in four (24%) families headed by single mothers were food insecure in 2021.}

^{A Life of Crime and Drugs}

^{In addition to poverty, children of color with single parent confront more barriers to opportunity in every turn of their lives: overly harsh school disciplinary policies that often trap them in juvenile justice systems, racial profiling by police and disproportionate arrests of people of color, more severe sentencing for the same offenses and the greater likelihood that young people of color will be tried as adults and incarcerated in adult prisons than whites for the same conduct. They are the victim of discrimination from a very early age; hence it is not surprise they are more likely to face emotional and behavioral health challenges like aggression or engaging in high risk behaviors when compared to peers raised by married parent. Children from single-parent families are more prone than children from two-parent families to use drugs, be gang members, be expelled from school, be committed to reform institutions, and become juvenile murderers. Single parenthood inevitably reduces the amount of time a child has in interaction with someone who is attentive to the child’s needs, including the provision of moral guidance and discipline. There are countless research studies that demonstrate that growing up in a single-parent family entails risks that jeopardize adolescents’ future life chances. Involvement in crime during adolescence is associated with negative life outcomes such as lower income, worse health outcome, lower well-being, and a higher probability of adult crime involvement}^.

^{Physical and Mental Health}

^{Children of single parent in poverty, whose parent lack secure employment and children in households with high housing cost burdens feel the weight of their family’s economic stress. Children who live in under resourced communities may experience additional stress from safety and security concerns. These children are more likely to suffer from food insecurity which causes further stress and potential health issues for families as they often must choose between paying for food or paying for other necessities such as housing, health care and utilities. Inadequate food and nutrition profoundly and negatively impact a child’s physical, mental, and behavioral health and development. Indeed, children of color are also more likely to fall out of the middle class and are more likely to stay in the lower class as adults.}

^{Researchers have consistently linked poverty with parental stress, high parental stress, in turn, can spark even more challenges and adverse outcomes among the children involved. Children of single parents are more likely to suffer from issues of mental health such as depression. Here again, the racial dimension is acute, racial and ethnic disparities contribute to disproportionately troubling mental health and wellness conditions among children of color. Nine percent of highschoolers overall but 12% of Black students, 13% of students of two or more races and 26% of American Indian or Native Alaskan high schoolers attempted suicide in the year prior to the most recent federal survey.}

^{And these struggles only multiply exponentially for the kids when their single parent suddenly passes away}

^{Only a few of them would be relatively lucky where they live with the other parent or some family members willing to care. But most of them are likely to go into foster care where their needs will not be consistently met given the low resources devoted to the system. Very few children will be able to overcome the financial insecurity inherited from their parents, but only if their parents had not been prepared for the worst-case scenario. Now if you are a single parent, this is a situation where having life insurance is REALLY CRITICAL. This will be the thing that makes a difference in your children’s lives after you pass away. This is the umbrella that will protect your kids, make sure they are fed and perhaps, this will present opportunities to them that you were not able to provide in your lifetime.}

For single-parent families, one illness, job loss, or loss of childcare can put the entire family over the edge.

^{It should have become clear so far what we are trying to say- the playing field is not level, children from single parents start struggling very early in life. The reality is bleak- your children are already starting from a lower rung of the ladder in society. With you gone and no one to take care of them, the likelihood of them breaking this cycle of poverty is significantly lower. But if you had the good sense to get your family protected with life insurance, your children would have one less thing to worry about- money. You would have left them with a real opportunity to make a change in their lives. It would provide them with the cushion they need as they are grieving and coping with your loss, the sudden changes in their lives. Knowing that you have taken their future seriously and haven’t forgotten them in your death will make an immense difference. Think about it- a child of a single parent who got the death benefit of $300,000 the day their parent passed away versus the unlucky child who not only lost their parent, but also the only safety net they had ever known in life, you know which of these categories you want your children to fall in. Get a quote today and we promise to help you find something affordable that will keep protecting your children even after you die. Life expectancy of single parent is substantially lower because of the constant stress they experience which lead to a myriad of health issues like high blood pressure, heart attack, malnutrition, overexertion, depression etc.}

Researchers have found anyone who acted as a single mother HAD AN INCREASED RISK OF PHYSICAL DISABILITY AND POOR SELF-REPORTED HEALTH WHEN THEY WERE OLDER.

So, get your family protected with life insurance when you are young and are in good health. It is ironic that as you age and work towards financial security for your family, the cost of a life insurance will become higher because your health also deteriorates as you age. Get it when it is the MOST AFFORDABLE!

^{Here are some important statistics- facts that have been reliably gathered by researchers:}

^{17% of children of all backgrounds live in poverty, but among African American and American Indian children, that proportion is close to a third, at 32% and 31% respectively.}
^{27% of all children have parents lacking secure employment, but that number goes up to 44% and 41% for American Indian and African American children respectively.}
^{Latino children also face a higher burden in these two categories than their white counterparts.}
^{Uninsured children are less likely to have access to mental health services, preventing them from securing the help they need in times of crisis.}
^{Father absence as a predictor of violence is robust for both male and female violence.}
^{70% of juveniles in state-operated institutions come from single-parent homes.}
^{Individuals from father-absent homes are 279% more likely to carry guns and deal drugs than their peers.}
^{Most adolescents who enter the justice system have suffered from parental abandonment, substance abuse, or a dysfunctional household.}
^{It has been reported that fatherless children are anywhere from 3 to 20 times more likely to be incarcerated than children raised in dual-parent households.}
^{71% of teachers and 90% of law enforcement officials state that the lack of parental supervision at home is a major factor that contributes to violence in schools.}
^{In a study of 56 school shootings, only 10 of the shooters (18%) were raised in a stable home with both biological parents. 82% grew up in either an unstable family environment or grew up without both biological parents together.}