>>My impression is that a lot of the difference in outcomes has to do with money. That is, that it's not dad per se who's the issue, but that single parent families tend to be poorer. In fact, pretty sure I just saw research that said that kids with same sex parents do just as well as kids with opposite sex parents, once you match for income.

I'm thinking of the 40-year series showing that dads actually interact differently with kids than mums. I don't believe there's enough single-sex parenting history to say much at all. Probably a truism that families where more than one adult can focus on bringing home money, are likely to have more of it and there's separate evidence that mum and dad working also has a good effect on rates of tertiary education- probably because mum is better-educated.

>>But that's not the reality for plenty of kids and hasn't been for nearly half a century. I am opposed to systems that increase the disadvantage of those already disadvantaged.

There was a time when deadbeat dads were drummed out of acceptable society. Now mum soldiering on alone is the norm in some communities. For the purposes of argument: a cynic would say that "inclusiveness" drove us to this point and now has established a repeat pattern of failure for whole communities. Those who say they abhor racism might consider why it's OK to turn the other way when certain racial groups are now into the third or fourth generation of repeat disadvantage, which cannot be addressed for fear of being labeled non-inclusive. / cynic hat off /