CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Broken Homes have been seen as un-African and where it happened, it has been treated as a taboo, unideal, and an exceptional case. However, the rate of broken homes in marriages is on the rise and becoming alarming in society today. The various homes and families are expected to serve as and be filled with joy, happiness with a lot of guaranteed security and comfort but it is rather unfortunate and pitiful that the home is neglecting its primary functions thereby causing a lot of damages to the education of the children from such homes. A family which is supposed to be the foundation and the smallest unit based on the blood relationship of the society will be found wanting in this duty when it is broken. Family is required to support, protect and educate traditional norms, values their children when young, who also, in turn, love, respect, revere and obey their parents and maintain them when they grow old. The emergence of Broken Homes in society in recent times is threatening the basic roles and responsibilities of the family. In Nigeria, the existence of Broken Homes is unknown and when they existed, they are ignored as exceptional cases. Currently, Broken Homes are fast-growing family patterns both inside and outside Nigeria and have become even more common than the so-called nuclear family, consisting of the father, mother, and the children (Tenibiaje M.O et al., 2011). Factors such as divorce, separation, death of a parent, unwanted pregnancy or both to unmarried couples, and singleparent adoption are the major causes of Broken Homes in our society today (Amato, 2000).
A broken home is regarded as a household in which only one parent lives with a child or children (Pollitt, 1994). A broken home is a situation in which either the man or the woman in a marriage is responsible for the financial, material, and emotional needs of the family. It is taking care of family responsibilities (which include caring for the children) without the father’s or mother’s contribution (Achakpa, 1999). It means the other parent is absent as opposed to a co-parent, meaning that the parent is not the only parent regardless of whether or not they are a couple. A broken home is a situation in which someone brings up a child on his/her own because the other parent is not living with them. A Broken Home is a parent not living with a spouse or partner, who has most of the day-to-day responsibilities in raising the child or children (Dowd Nancy, 1997).