Article: N.J. among leaders in highest number of families headed by single women.(Knight Ridder Newspapers)

By Erika Hobbs

PHILADELPHIA _ Yvette Velasquez's divorce left her with a second mortgage, two car payments, and two babies.

"Basically, I became the mommy and the daddy," said Velasquez, who moved recently and lives nearer to Camden, New Jersey.

"Now I am the one who has to go check on the noise I hear at night. I never thought I'd have to do that."

Her story is one snapshot from a fast-growing group in American society: families headed by single women.

The latest data from the 2000 census show that the number of these families grew in the 1990s nearly as fast _ about 25 percent _ in New Jersey as in the rest of the nation. ...

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