Single Parent: Meaning & Definitions

Families in which children are raised by only one parent are now more common
around the world. Migration, separation, divorce, and widowhood are influencing
this trend.Women who have never been married and who live without a partner also
account for an increasing proportion of single-parent families.While mothers often
head such families, fathers, grandmothers, aunts, or other female relatives may be
single parents.
Women’s increased ability to earn an income is also influencing the growth in
single-parent families, since those with independent incomes are better able to cope
on their own. The International Labour Organization reports that economic need and
changes in women’s perceptions of their social roles and priorities have led to more
women entering the workforce in the last few decades. As a result, the gap between
male and female labor force participation has narrowed and the number of twoearner
and single-parent families has increased—although earning power is still lower
among women.
As women tend to be younger than their male partners and have longer life
expectancies, widowhood is also a cause of single parenthood. In African countries
most seriously affected by AIDS, a substantial number of families are losing one or
both parents to the epidemic.
As more people balance job and family duties, governments and the private sector
are urged to promote greater compatibility between work-force participation and
family responsibilities, especially for single parents. The Programme of Action adopted
at the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development recommends
that special attention be paid to the provision of health insurance and social security,
day-care centers and facilities for breastfeeding, kindergartens, part-time jobs, paid
parental leave, flexible work schedules, and reproductive and child-health services.

From Wikipedia:

Single-parent (also lone parent, solo parent and sole parent) is a parent who cares for one or more children without the physical assistance of the other parent in the home. "Single Parenthood" may vary according to the local laws of different nations or regions.
Single parenthood may occur for a variety of reasons. A few possible scenerios are by choice, as in, divorce, adoption, artificial insemination, surrogate motherhood, while others are the result of an unforeseeable occurrence, such as a death, child abuse, child neglect, or abandonment by biological parents.
The living and parenting arrangements for single parents are diverse. A number live in households with family, other adults or alone in home, apartments, condos or government assisted housing. When parents separate, one party, usually the primary parent, has the children the majority of the time but secondary or 'non-resident' parents continue to share some type of parenting time and responsibility, to some extent, with their child.