Free Republic

In record numbers, they're struggling to find work, shunning long-distance moves to live with mom and dad, delaying marriage and raising kids out of wedlock - if they're becoming parents at all. Young adults are the recession's lost generation in the U.S. The unemployment rate for them is the highest since World War Two, and they risk living in poverty more than others - nearly one in five. There are missed opportunities and dim prospects for a generation of mostly 20-somethings and 30-somethings coming of age in a prolonged period of joblessness.

Charlotte Church today showed signs of her strain at being a single mother bringing up two little ones. Charlotte, 24, struggled with a host of bags, toys and bottles as she took her two children out for the day. Meanwhile her estranged fiancé, peramatanned Gavin Henson, has been out living it up, looking relaxed and care-free.

THREE-QUARTERS of children in some parts of Britain will be born to unmarried mothers within the next parliament, official figures indicate. The number of births to single mothers and unmarried cohabiting couples is set to exceed 50% across the country in the next five years. However, data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) suggest that births outside of wedlock in some areas are already the norm and continue to rise. Knowsley, Merseyside, one of Britain’s most deprived areas, has the highest proportion of children born to unmarried mothers, with the figure on course to hit 75% by 2014. Critics...

According to a recent report by the Centers for Disease Control, 40 percent of American babies born in 2007 were born to unmarried mothers. That’s up from 34 percent only five years ago. When most Americans hear the expression “unmarried mother,” what nearly always comes to mind is a teenage girl. But that’s not what’s driving the recent increase. In 2007, only 23 percent of the out-of-wedlock births were to unmarried teenagers. The rest were to women in their 20s, and now increasingly, in their 30s. The increase among older women accounts for the six percentage point increase of the...

New Mexico's birth rate in 2005 exceeded the national average, despite a long-term decline in the state's birth rate for teen mothers, according to a new health department report. The New Mexico Department of Health's 2005 New Mexico Selected Health Statistics Annual Report says: # New Mexico residents gave birth to 28,822 babies in 2005. The state's 2005 birth rate of 14.6 percent slightly exceeded the U.S. rate of 14 in 2004, the latest year available. # Single mothers accounted for half the state's births in 2005. # The birth rate of New Mexicans ages 15 to 19 decreased 22.8...

A young, single mother informed a Tribune reporter that "marriage is for white people." The statistics back up her words. More than three-quarters of black babies are born out of wedlock, according to the St. Joseph County Health Department. South Bend sociologist Johnnie Griffin says blacks were more likely to be raised by both parents during slavery days than they are today. Nearly 1.5 million babies, a record, were born to unmarried women in the United States last year, the government reported. And it isn't just teenagers anymore.

PARIS (AP) - France has updated a two-century-old law to remove a distinction in the legal status of children born out of wedlock and those born to married couples. The change approved by the Cabinet Monday removes the distinction between a "legitimate" child and a "natural" child born to unmarried parents, which first appeared in the 1804 Napoleonic code. The revision means that the relationship of an unmarried mother to her child will automatically be recognized. Until now, unmarried mothers had to go to city hall to register themselves as new parents. Unmarried fathers will still need to declare themselves...

July 4, 2005 7:35 PM No more illegitimate children in France - ministry PARIS (Reuters) - France abolished the legal terms "legitimate" and "illegitimate" for children Monday with a decree saying the distinction dating back to the Napoleonic Code of 1804 made no sense anymore. Abolishing the terms brings France's civil code in line with laws passed in recent years banning discrimination -- especially for inheritance -- between children born in or outside of a marriage, a Justice Ministry communique said. About 46 percent of French babies are now born out of wedlock, compared to about 10 percent in the...

I receive death threats and abuse on a regular basis. My address and phone number have been placed on the Internet by gay militants and people told to harass and assault me. Jokes were made when my father died, insults made about my family. I have been told by editors and publishers that I will never work as a writer in various places because I defend marriage. But I will not react in kind and I will not surrender. I do, however, want people to know that there is hatred at work. First, let us deal with the idea that...

Larry Elder penned a rather disturbing column recently. He noted that, “According to the World Almanac 2005, nearly 70 percent of black children are born outside of wedlock.” And children born into such circumstances, not surprisingly, end up having a LOT more problems than kids born into a married household. Go figure. The first thing that occurred to me upon reading this was that unless a bunch of white men were going around raping and impregnating black women, then this is one problem the black community simply cannot blame on “whitey.” Physician, heal thyself. But this problem is even deeper....

<p>New York Giants second-round draft pick Chris Snee and coach Tom Coughlin's daughter had a child last fall, the team disclosed hours after picking the Boston College guard.</p> <p>Snee and Katie Coughlin are not married, but together they are raising the boy, Dylan.</p>