[Gayle]

No you can't tar all single parents with the same brush - some make fantastic parents. My own mother in law brought up two boys on her own and they've turned out damn fine.

But the point is that there are some areas of the country where opting to be a young single mother is seen as a way out. They don't feel they have any chance of doing anything other than being a mum, claiming benefit and getting a house on the back of it.