Being mum

Are children always better off in a two-parent family? Ateira Griffin, daughter of a single mother and the director of non-profit organisation that supports black single mothers and their daughters, explores what it is like for a family to be headed by a mum without a dad, a family structure that is on the rise in her native United States.

The label ‘single mum’ can provoke pretty strong reactions and judgements, especially for Black women and Women of colour. Statistics tell us that children of single mothers are less likely to do well at school and more likely to struggle with substance abuse or turn to criminal activity. Ateira challenges the assumptions and goes beyond the statistics, speaking to black single mothers in her home city of Baltimore.

Baltimore on the East Coast of America has one of the highest rates of single mums – nearly 60% of households with children are led by single parents, and of those, the majority are Black single mums. In fact children in single mum households account for half of all African-American kids growing up in America and Ateira explores the context for this historically and in terms of contemporary social policy.