Welcome to the inquiry on the BBC World Service. I'm Bramwyn Jeffries. Each week one

question, four expert witnesses and an answer.

It's 1937 and in New York, 10-year-old Daniel Patrick Moynihan

is shining shoes to help pay his family's bills.

His mother Margaret is a nurse trying to raise two children on her own

after her husband abandoned the family, fleeing gambling debts.

28 years later, in 1965,

Pat Moynihan had escaped his difficult start in life, getting a job in the US government

Department of Labor.

He released a controversial report, which said the number of children born outside marriage and the number of

divorces in the African American population were rising rapidly.

Having many households run by a single woman risked holding back the progress of the next generation he argued.

So here was the child of a single parent, seemingly criticizing single parents.

The backlash was swift. African Americans said the report was racist and feminists said

it was sexist. Many accused it of blaming the victim. Since then divorce rates and the numbers of children born outside

marriage have grown across the world. More than 50 years after the debate surrounding Moynihan's report,

this week were asking the same big question.

Do children in two parent families do better?

Part 1, Fragile Families

Well, I had three children.

I was about 21 years old when I had my first child.

Our first expert witness, Dr. Sarah McClanahan, is a professor of sociology and public affairs

...