Single mother

A single mother is a woman who is bringing up her children in the absence of a father. There are several scenarios that could be considered single motherhood:

• The woman lives alone and does not know who the father of her children is
• The children's father has been killed, leaving the woman alone (also known as a "war widow" in the case that the father dies in military service)
• The mother and father are separated. In this case they may or may not share custody

Single mothers often commit paternity fraud, whereby they seek paternity payments from a man who they falsely claim to be the father. Some studies and estimates put the incidence of paternity fraud as high as 10%, although there are also much lower estimates. The most likely rate is probably 5%.

A 2008 study led by Georgia State University economist Benjamin Scafidi conservatively estimated that single mothers cost the U.S. taxpayer $112 billion every year. [1]