The Facts

Why Fathers are Important

24 million children in America – one out of three – live in biological father-absent homes.
SOURCE: 2010 US Census Bureau

Even in high crime neighborhoods, 90% of children from stable, two-parent homes with an involved father do not become delinquents.
SOURCE: Development and Psychopathology

63% of teen suicides come from fatherless homes. Five times the national average.
SOURCE: U.S. Dept of Health

90% of all runaways and homeless children are from fatherless homes. 32 times the national average.

80% of rapists with anger problems come from fatherless homes. 14 times the national average.
SOURCE: Justice and Behavior

85% of children with behavioral problems come from fatherless homes. 20 times the national average.
SOURCE: Centers for Disease Control

71% of all high school dropouts come from fatherless homes. 9 times the national average.
SOURCE: National Principals Association Report

75% of all adolescent patients in chemical abuse centers come from fatherless homes. 10 times the national average.
SOURCE: Rainbows for all God’s Children

85% of all youths in prison come from fatherless homes. 20 times the national average.
SOURCE: U.S. Dept. of Justice

Daughters of single parents with an uninvolved father are 53% more likely to marry as teenagers, 711% more likely to have children as teenagers, 164% more likely to have a pre-marital birth and 92% more likely to get divorced themselves.

Children with involved fathers are 70% less likely to drop out of school.
SOURCE: National Household Education Survey

“Without two parents, working together as a team, the child has more difficulty learning the combination of empathy, reciprocity, fairness and self-command that people ordinarily take for granted. If the child does not learn this at home, society will have to manage his behavior in some other way. He may have to be rehabilitated, incarcerated, or otherwise restrained. In this case, prisons will substitute for parents.
SOURCE: Morse, Jennifer Roback. Parents or Prisons. Policy Review, 2003

In Texas, incarceration in a state juvenile facility costs taxpayers approximately $270 per day or $96,120 a year.
Texas Public Policy Foundation, 2010


This is why fathers are important.

Possum Talks   McKinney,Texas 75070  info@possumtalks.org