By Anna Gibson

According to the United States Census Bureau, 39 percent of custodial parents fail to receive child support in the United States. Even more disturbing, it would seem that even if parents provide child support, it’s too little to support the family. The amount of child support given monthly is estimated to be an underwhelming $280 a month.

by Saaraa Bailey

Dear Halle,

First, let me apologize for the potential invasiveness of this letter. The racial components of your very public custody battle, while personal, also reflect the politics that burden black women and children throughout the world. What appears to be meddling is actually much deserved contemplation of how being a person of color is still largely regarded as a problem or inconvenience.

Let me put this out there first: I am a single mama and so admittedly enter this discussion with a built in bias. Being a single parent was not something that I planned, but as with most single parents my relationship ended (ugly) and my dream of raising my daughter in a two-parent home dissipated.  I was then forced to pick up the pieces of my wounded psyche and commence to building a new existence wherein my daughter, her father and I learn to navigate the treacherous but rewarding land of shared parenting, all the while dealing with hurt feelings, old resentments and at times valid distrusts: aka Baby Daddy/Baby Mama Drama.