Black Fatherhood- A Forgotten Parent

There is well known saying that you cannot choose your parents.
There is also a myth that that black fathers are bad parents who leave their children behind.

Even though being black and being a father is often perceived as a combination that does not mix well, this cannot be further away from the truth.
Black fathers are present and engaged parents who care for their children.

However, the fact that misconceptions about black fatherhood exist raises an important and a very complicated question:
What are the factors that contributed to making black fathers across the United States become a forgotten parent whose role is often diminished or ignored?
Parenting is more than fostering for the sole survival of your offspring.

It is about being meaningfully present in the lives of your children and helping them mature in the best possible way.
Although the importance of a male parent in the psychological development of a child is well documented, statistics claim that around 33 per cent of children in the United States of America live in the absence of their biological fathers (Sanders, 2013).

Recently, the news reported that black fathers are twice as likely to abandon their children compared to their white counterparts (Tyrese: There's a black fatherhood crisis, 2012).
According to the National Center for Fathering, 57.6 per cent of black children live in homes without their biological fathers opposing to 31.2 per cent for Hispanic and 20.7 per cent for white children (National Center for Fathering, n.d.).

Therefore, it is evident that a nationwide father problem exists and that it needs to be addressed.
There are many causes that helped create these devastating statistics. While some of them

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