One Parent Family. Stock Image

One Parent family on a white background,Definition. Single-parent families are families with children under age 18 headed by a parent who is widowed or divorced and not remarried, or by a parent who has never married. Reasons for becoming a single parent include divorce, break-up, abandonment, death of the other parent, childbirth by a single woman or single-person adoption. A single-parent family is a family with children that are headed by a single parent.