Millions of Americans are celebrating Father’s Day in honor of the men who helped raise them and provide for them — even if not always perfectly.
But we got a reminder recently of the numerous children in this area alone who are denied the blessings of a father in their households.
An article in the Times Free Press told of the almost total absence of fathers in families in public housing facilities run by the Chattanooga Housing Authority.
That reality is tragic but not surprising.
It may be deemed insensitive these days to say it, but study after study has linked child poverty to single-parent homes. Looking at the depressing statistics in a 2010 study, Robert Rector, a senior fellow at The Heritage Foundation, noted that single parents head more than 70 percent of poor families who have children. And single parents themselves are about six times more apt to live in poverty than married couples.