Single parent-norm in the future?

Salaam Namaste, a popular Hindi flick released late last-year popularised live-in relationships and also glamourised single parenthood! Many single parents are better educated and are able to support themselves so marriage is no longer a financial prerequisite to parenthood. Under enormous work-pressure families are splitting-up and giving rise to single parenthood.

A study indicates that a single parent raises 20 million kids in the US. Though not so marked in India, the phenomenon is no longer raising eyebrows. Even though the society has accepted it, the Government's social policy has not addressed it. According to Deepti Priya Mehrotra, a political scientist who has done her doctorate on the Women's Movement in India, single mother as a category is not recognized in the census data.

There are two versions of single parenthood reported in India; one set-in by actress Sushmita Sen, who adopted a baby whilst still single and the other, which arises under marital circumstances. J K Rowling, the British author of fabulously successful Harry Potter books, and an ambassador for one-parent families asserts, "people bringing up children single-handedly deserve not condemnation, but congratulation".

Following the footsteps of Sushmita Sen and Raveena Tandon (adopted 2 children ten years back) are the average Indian women, who are enjoying the satisfaction of becoming mothers (something that makes a woman 'complete'), even though many of them remain single. Skipping the 'attachment' of marriage and men, they are opting to become single parents - by adopting a child. The most common argument of a non-believer is that a single parent (woman) would never do justice to the child because of the social dishonor attached to unwed mothers. They are thought of as the 'bottom of the barrel'. The other thing, which stops her, is the fear of her incident death. Who would take care of the child thereafter?

In a situation, where a family has split or at the death of a parent, coping with the problems of a single-income household and finding ways to go-on sans support systems, at first is hard. Key characteristics of single-parent families are the limited resources (especially time, energy, and money) available to them. Single-parent families in today's society have their share of daily struggles and long-term disadvantages. The issues of expensive day care, shortage of quality time with children, balance of work and home duties and economic struggles are among the seemingly endless problems these families must solve.

On the brighter side, India's first case of a surrogate child was conceived of a single father. Amit Banerjee, a 46 yr old divorcee expressed his wishes and now is a proud single father. "In my 25 years of experience, this is the first time a man has come forward with a wish to father a child. This is a trend-setting example of single fatherhood in the country," says his Doctor Ghosh Dastidar.

The country's capital celebrates Annual Adoption week every November and adoption agencies point out that the number of single parents adopting children have increased. Since 1988 there have been just 12-13 single parents who have gone for adoption whereas in the past nine months, there have been three such cases.

The whole concept of a family, is undergoing a massive change, but whether it is the beginning of a revolution or not, is a question that has yet to be answered!!

Source: Pregathi K (oneindia)