Lone mothers of mixed racial and ethnic children in Britain: comparing experiences of social attitudes and support in the 1960s and 2000s

This article places side-by-side the views from lone mothers bringing up children from mixedracial and ethnic backgrounds in mid-1960s and early 2000s Britain, to consider whether thesorts of social attitudes and support these mothers experienced have changed or persisted overthe past half century. The analysis compares and contrasts the general social and officialattitudes that lone mothers of mixed children feel that they encounter, the support they receivefrom the fathers of their children, and their relationships with their own and the father's widerfamily, the neighbourhood and friendship networks they draw on, and the formal supportsavailable to them across time. The article concludes by considering some indicative trajectoriesof change and constancy that looking at these social attitudes and supports reveals, aroundnegative assessments and their social expression, expectations of fathers, the availability ofwider family, and the importance of informal daily support from other mothers in the samesituation