For many people, these one-parent families represent a transitional family type. They are most likely to begin when parents in couple families separate from each other and end when lone parents find new partners or children leave home. Lone parents face challenges at home and in the workplace. They are supported by government and often by family, friends and ex-partners. Parents in these families are either partnered mothers or partnered fathers .
Some differences occur in definitions over time and across surveys.
Major departures from the above definitions are noted in the text. Of these children, around one in five was aged four years or under. This pattern appears to have become more firmly established. Few data are available on the transition of people into one-parent families. However, factors other than widowhood and divorce from registered marriages are becoming more significant.