Arielle Morgan comforts her son Dominique, 2, with a sippy cup after he fell while playing in the living room in Durham, N.C. on October 15, 2015. Morgan lives with her mother as they both raise there two eight year old daughters and her son together as single mothers.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, one in four children under the age of 18 are being raised without a father and nearly half (45%) live below the poverty line. Arielle says that it would have been impossible for her to take on the responsibility of raising her daughter on her own at age 16, especially because of her daughters medical bills. Both mothers believe that staying together and raising their children together has transformed their relationship from mother-daughter to roommates and allowed them to handle the financial burdens of being single parents.