Single Mothers struggle to stay out of poverty and we can help. The truth is a single mother is one paycheck away from poverty.

 

We can be the help that these single independent mothers need. So often we challenge the government but in essence if we put our best foot forward and be that resource that our society needs, we can change a life. “The value of a person resides in what he gives and not in what he is capable of receiving” Albert Einstein. Whatever you can donate will help in the relief. Thank You

 

 

 

Nicole Swinson Single Mother Story

A former Washington, D.C., resident, Swinson, 39, came to the county to care for her three children — including two with disabilities — after her husband left her. In the process, the children got dropped from his health insurance. After losing her job at Reagan National Airport after the Sept. 11 attacks, Swinson also lost her health insurance.

 

"That was one of the most memorable moments after losing my job," she said. "Most disappointing to me was that I had worked, and I knew there were programs out there to help me, but it took a long time to get help."

 

The family went without health care for a year before receiving government-funded health care.

"I had to keep it together," she said, "because if the kids saw that I was breaking, they would break, too."

 

Swinson's story is indicative of the single mothers represented in the commission's study, including the 21 percent of unmarried women with no health insurance, the 72 percent of single-mother households that apply for public housing and those who earn almost 60 percent less than the county's median income.

 

 

 

 

The United States has the highest percentage of single-parent families (34% in 1998) among developed countries, followed by Canada (22%), Australia (20%), and Denmark (19%). In developing countries, divorce is not as common, but desertion, death, and imprisonment produce single-parent families, primarily headed by women (Kinnear 1999). Rates vary country to country from a low of less than 5 percent in Kuwait to a high of over 40 percent in Botswana and Barbados. In countries such as Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Trinidad, and Tobago more than 25 percent of households are headed by women.