Nearly a fourth–21.6 percent–of children growing up today in the U.S. are on food stamps, according to a recently released Census report.

CNS News breaks it down:

Of the approximately 73,623,000 children under the age of 18 in the United States in 2014, 15,931,000—or 21.6 percent—were in households that received food stamps, according to data released today by the Census Bureau.

. . .

In January, the Census Bureau released a chart showing that of the approximately 16 million children on food stamps as reported by 2014 CPS ASEC 8.1 million (8,115,000) were in households headed by a mother only. Another 0.9 million (894,000) were in households with no parent present.

Of course, this is terrible economic news. But it is more than an economic story. It means that instead of growing up with a sense that the family is the primary social unit, the one that forms and supports children, these young people mature with an entirely different set of assumptions about life.

I don't need to belabor the point that half of these households are led by single mothers. This is not to belittle women who are struggling to makes ends meet and discipline children.

It is merely to note once again what happens when the idea of marriage and a two-parent family is no longer considered all that important to child rearing in the U.S..