What do you think about the statement 1 in 3 children in America grow up without a father?

I saw on the TV that Oprah is doing a show about children who grow up fatherless and she put out the statistic that one in three children grow up this way. So, I googled, because I found that stat to be ridiculously high. I couldn’t imagine it was true. What I found was an article talking about “fatherlessness” saying 1 in 3 children go to bed at night without their dad tucking them in. They were including children of divorce and children born out of wedlock, and basically any situation where the children don’t have their fathers living in the same house. I have no idea how they counted children who live with their father 50% of the time. I also don’t know how Oprah, or if Oprah explained exactly what the stat means, nor do I know exactly what her show is focusing on. I haven’t seen the show, I just saw a promo for it.

Personally, I find it offensive that a child is labelled fatherless just because the father is not living in the same house. I know some fathers truly are not around for their children, but I don’t think we should lump together divorced dads who have visitation with dads who have never been their for their children since birth.

What are your thoughts about the statistic?