This is part of a series of blogs spotlighting the ALICE population and how our community can make a difference.
Families with children are changing.
Today mothers are doing more paid work outside the home than in previous years. Nationally in 2015, 42 percent of mothers were sole or primary breadwinners, bringing in 50 percent or more of family earnings, and another 22 percent were co-breadwinners, earning 25 to 49 percent of earnings. Gender roles are changing as well, with fathers doing more housework and child care. Over the last 30 years, the number of stay-at-home fathers has doubled to 2.2 million, and the amount of housework fathers report doing has also doubled to an average of nine hours a week.
The composition of families with children is changing, too. There are increasing numbers of various types of families, including those with several cohabiting generations and those with lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) parents. More than a quarter of married LGBT couples are now raising children, and the number of same-sex marriages more than doubled nationally from 2012 to 2015. Households with combined children from parents’ prior relationships are also on the rise; almost one in six children under the age of 18 now lives in a family with parents and their children from previous relationships.
One of the results of these changes is the number of families that are ALICE. Between 2010 and 2017, nearly 400,000 Michigan families with children had income below the ALICE threshold. Studies show that children raised in economically unstable households are at greater risk for poor outcomes in health, development and success in school. These negative effects can last a lifetime.
That difficulty has been heightened by COVID-19. ALICE families with children are especially vulnerable to the disruptions that accompany child care, school, and university closures.
- More than one-quarter of households below the ALICE Threshold do not have adequate internet access, compromising participation in e-learning.
- Parents who need to work cannot stay at home with their children, leading to health and safety issues for unsupervised children or jeopardizing a parent’s ability to work.
- ALICE families can lose access to other supports, such as free or reduced-price breakfasts and lunches provided at school.
Please support our programs that help ALICE children be resilient and succeed for a lifetime.