ABOUT THIS SERIES
Is there a solution to the single-parent crisis? Not an easy one, say the experts and the people who try to help single parents and their children. But they are trying.
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A nine-month investigation reveals that the inability to lower the poverty rate in Maine is due in part to a change in the makeup of the state’s families.
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In-Depth: The full interview with Isabel Sawhill
When senior reporter Naomi Schalit began her nine months of research for our series on Maine’s single parents in poverty, one of her first stops was Isabel Sawhill’s office at the Brookings Institution. You’ll find many quotes from…
The story behind the story: Why single parents in poverty opened up
I have been a reporter for 34 years and this was the hardest story I have ever written. People didn’t want to talk to me. They didn’t want to give me “fodder for woman-blaming.”
500% rise in single parenthood fueling family poverty in Maine
A nine-month investigation reveals that the inability to lower the poverty rate in Maine is due in part to a change in the makeup of the state’s families.
One wrong guy and an ‘endless struggle’ for a single mom
Part 2: The story of one single mother speaks to the struggles shared by many single parents in Maine. “Every week’s the same,” she said. “I’m always broke. The electric, internet, diapers, toiletries, food when we run out of my food card…”
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