Single Parenting and Child Abandonment in Owena-Ijesa Community: A Search for Solution
Single parenting is the situation where one parent assumes the primary responsibility for raising a child without the presence or involvement of a partner or spouse. The aim of this paper is to investigate single parenting and child abandonment in Owena-Ijesa community. This paper employed both primary and secondary sources of data collection.The paper revealed the major causes of child abandonment in the community such as family conflict, negative cultural practice and poverty. This paper revealed that child abandonment is a serious issue that can have detrimental effects on the child's well-being and affect their dream in the future. The paper also showed that children of single parent are exposed to social vices such as robbery, molestation, kidnnapping and in many case prostitution in Owena-Ijesa Community. The paper concluded that single parenting can lead to child abandonment especially when there is no financial strength to cater for such child and help is not coming from anywhere. Parents should ensure that they stick to their partner in order to avoid being single parent which may led to child abandonment even in life threaten situation. The paper recommended that there is need for people in the society to look after children that were abandoned by their parents so as to ensure a peaceful society.
Keywords: abandonment, child, community, owena-ijesa, parenting, search, single, solution