More single parents dependent on the state?
The overhaul, in Wisconsin and other states, helped place more single parents in jobs.
The number of married people fell below 50%; there were 400,000 more single parents and 504,000 extra cohabiting unmarried couples.
There are many more single parents, elderly residents who can no longer maintain a home and young singles, Ms. Kamer said.
There are also concerns that more single parents have been forced to become self-employed – 20% compared with 15% of non-lone parents – with indications that they are paid less than employed people.
It demands a new kind of empathy for an American family that has changed its eating habits (cooking less, shopping more often and buying more prepared foods) and its makeup (more single parents, fewer children).
"More lesbians and gays are coming out, more people are co-habiting, there are more single parents, so it's simply not possible to be moralistic about the things that we used to be.
The further we go in this direction, the more single parents (mostly mothers, but not all) will find themselves and their children living without the stability and security that helps build a happy family life.
"There's a lot more single parents coming in, male and female, because they have cash issues," said Keskin who herself relied on welfare payments to raise her five children after she served seven years in the US air force and then was unable to find work.
