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I had the opportunity to speak with a wonderful person. We were talking about the family dynamic and how it is deteriorating.

Unfortunately, the absence of parents in the lives of our children is rising.

In a study released in May 2020 by Arthur Zuckerman, 86% of single-parent families in the US are led by mothers. Also, 57% of millennial mothers are single moms.

In addition, in 2017, 25% of US households were headed by a single parent. We can argue all day whether or not two parents should be in the home for the children to grow up healthy.

The truth is that God intended for father and mother to be in the lives of the children they were instrumental in conceiving.

Yes, a parent may die, but that does not release the need for having both.

All of us need what both a father and a mother bring to the table. It does not have to come from our parents if one of them is absent. But we still need the impartation from a healthy father and mother figure.

Over a ten year period from 2007 to 2017 the number of single parent homes headed by fathers increased from 12.5% to 16.1%. That healthy father figure is vital to our development to accepting and respecting authority.

This is not to say that mothers are not authority figures, it is the father or father figures’ place to make authority a safe zone.

When a father is successful in creating a safe zone, the family will find the father to be a place for sanctuary or suitable to hide from hostility, retribution, threats or perceived danger. Because of the lack of fathers operating in their rightful places, mothers have had to step up and fill this gap due to our males being donors and not dads.

Our families need that direction and guidance from the father’s position. If that position is vacant, what male in the family is going to step up and fill the gap?

As a church family, do we as the men of the ministry look for and lock in to supporting the families with dads missing? Dads, fathers, it’s up to us to create that safe zone so our children can grow up healthy and whole. Strong families, strong communities, safe families, safe communities. Fathers, Safe Zone

Rev. Demetrius Moffett is Senior Pastor of Orange Church of God-Embassy of Grace, 1911 North 16th Street in Orange.