Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, February 4, 1994                   TAG: 9402040136
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

RATS, DECAY MORE LIKELY IN SINGLE-PARENT HOMES

For such children, the results are often illness and slow development of the skills needed for school and work.

A Census Bureau survey shows the lack of two parents can be devastating to a child's surroundings.

Such families are twice as likely to have broken plaster or peeling paint, twice as likely to live with exposed wiring and three times as likely to have severe heating problems.

They're twice as likely to live in crime-ridden neighborhoods and half again as likely to live where it's noisy, the Census Bureau said.

Substandard housing can have major effects on a child's development.

"You aren't really going to be able to grow up at the same rate as your peers because you won't be able to explore safely," said Robin Scott, a program associate with the Children's Defense Fund. "The children may be more likely to get sick. There may be problems with lack of electricity and heating."

But a child's development depends on more than surroundings, added Lydia Durbin, a director of the National Association of Social Workers.

"Children are able to cope with and overcome adverse living conditions if their caretakers are doing a good job for them," she said.

Of the nation's 10.5 million non-married-couple families, 4 percent lived in homes with severe physical problems, and 9 percent had moderate problems.

Those families include single-parent households and families composed of unmarried adults, often a parent and a grandparent.