The intention of this poper is to study the scope of One Parent Family by explonng the actual state of such family which would be revealed in the process of examination of the following three researches (1) What is the scope of One Parent Family according to the two nation-wide researches made by Statistics & Survey Division of Minister's Secretariat and Children and Family of the Ministry of Health & Welfare. (2) What is the scope of mother-child-family according to the stipulations set out by the Ministry of Health and Welfare as prerequisite for admittance to the Homes for Mothers & Children (3) Based on the studies on (1) and (2) above, further research was made against the residents of such Homes to explore the underlying causes and backgrounds in its process of formation This would be a challenging trial to clarify the scope of One Parent Family from other viewpoints than what has been conconventional The method and process shown in this article is as follows I. According to the two researches made by the Ministry of Health & Welfare, there are discrepancies m the numbers of mother-child-famihes and father-child-families II. There are many reasons for such discrepancies, of which one of the most important will be the different scope of classification of One Parent Family. How does definition of mother-child-family differ by each research? A. Research made by Statistics & Survey Division The research has been made on mother-child-families and, from 1973 onwards, father-child-farmhes as well. One Parent Family is defined as that constituted solely by either man or woman, unmarried or without a spouse, between the age of 20 and 60, and his or her children. This research has continued since 1953 with little amendment made except that ceiling of children's age has been increased from 18 to 20. The research was reviewed as follows; (1) The meaning of "without spoause" is not necessarily clear When one's whereabouts is unknown, the missing period, motivation, occasional contacts to certify one's existance etc must also be taken into consideration. (2) In this research if one ticks "married" in answer to the marital status, then such family is deemed to be non One Parent Family, even if its husband or wife is virtually separated. (3) As the age is restricted to the range of between 20 and 60, tean ager parent would be excluded from this research although the case might be scarce. (4) The family is assumed to be consisted of parent and child including parent m law or adopted child Families made up of uncle or aunt and niece or nephew, or grandfather or grandmother and grandchild are disregarded. (5) One Parent Family, must be consisted "solely" of such parent and ' 〜 child or children, which excludes the cases where relatives and lodgers share the same house" (6) The age limit of "the child" is stipulated to be under 20 If one of the children-reaches such age in relation to 4 and 5 above, such family is no longer recognized as Qne Parent Family. B. Research made by Children & Families Bureau Since 1952, eight times of researches have been made every 4 to 6 years including those of mother-child, father-child and widow families recently made. The scope of One Parent Family is not necessarily the same each year. The formation of mother-child-family is liable to be influenced by social, economic and historical backgrounds of that particular age For instance, mother-child-families used to be related to war widows just after the end of The World War II, in contrast with separated or unmarried mothers in recent period of high economic growth. In 1983, research on father-child-families were made in conformity with that of mother-child-families. The definition of One Parent Family is examined in detail in this article for distinct classification of such family C. Requisites for admittance to
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