Abstract The rate of African American single-parent households has risen drastically over the past several decades. Single family households are one of the top contributing factors to child poverty, drug abuse, and gang violence within the black community. Counselors must first understand the dynamic of the African American family to provide a solid foundation for which empirical techniques can be used to offer holistic and integrative practices. Over half of black lower income homes are operated by a single parent. The purpose of this analysis is to explore how absent fathers impact their daughters self-worth and view point on love, how broken families increase negative social influence, and how socioeconomics plays a role in a childs education. Each of these components...