This graduation thesis project consists of a website that is designed to provide a safe place for fatherless young girls and the mothers who raise them to come to in search of information and support for dealing with the impact of such a tremendous life changing event as the loss of a father. Fatherlessness has reached epidemic proportions in our country, where more than 20 million children are raised by single parents, most of whom are mothers. This paper examines the long-lasting impact that father loss has on generations of young girls.

The reason I have chosen to create a website is because there is not a lot of help online for fatherless daughters, only intimidating websites full of facts and statistics. I am interested in this particular subject because I have noticed negative patterns and stigma related to fatherlessness in women. I believe that changing the way that fatherless women see themselves is important to our community because fatherless women are often degraded, depressed, and looked down on. I am aiming to empower these ladies and give them a sense of hope and relief while creating an encouraging community. Users on this website will be able to: read inspiring success stories from other fatherless daughters and bloggers, read helpful articles from writers and authors, watch encouraging videos from Oprah’s series “Daddyless Daughters”, buy informative books, and read advice from fathers. My research includes reading multiple stories from fatherless daughters online, researching statistics from the US Census Bureau, and reading studies by researchers such as Bruce J. Ellis, John E. Bates, Lianne Woodward who have research the correlation between emotional distress and fatherlessness in women.