The role of a father in a child's life is extremely important when it comes to their development. With so much emphasis on young black boys needing their fathers at crucial ages in their development, the rate of our young black girls growing up without fathers is staggering and overlooked. What is an absent father? The definition is quite simple; An absentee father can be defined as a father who is not present in his child's life, whether physically, emotionally, or both. Although the absence of a father is detrimental in the life of any child, his absence in the life of a young black girl is even more crucial. The absence of a father in a black girl's life leads, in some cases, to promiscuity and teenage pregnancy, poverty, and emotional effects such as feelings of unworthiness and inability to be loved, fear of abandonment and rejection and commitment issues. The way they perceive the opposite sex, the outside world and themselves is forever tainted by the absence of the key element of the father. I have no memory of my own father when I was a child. I met him when I was about fourteen. My mother and grandmother, with the help of my uncles and aunt, raised me. Even though I had very positive male role models in my life, there was still the void of my father that I faced daily. I remember at a young age, before blowing out the candles on my birthday cake, I wished my dad would show up at my party. I had elaborate daydreams of him coming back into my life and doing things with me like I saw on TV. This never happened. One evening, as I was walking to the train station, my uncle nonchalantly said to me “there is your father” as if I saw him every day. I didn't... middle of paper ....../p/articles/mi_m1272/is_n2572_v121/ai_13358877/Ellis, BJ, et al. 2003. Does father absence place girls at particular risk of early sexual activity and adolescent pregnancy? Child Development 74 (May/June): 801-821. Hogan, D., P. and Kitagawa, E.M. (1985). The impact of social status, family structure and neighborhood on the fertility of black adolescents. Am. J. Sociol. 90:825-855. Kost K, Henshaw S, and Carlin L, Teen pregnancies, births, and abortions in the United States: National and state trends and trends by race and ethnicity, 2010. Stanton, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. National Center for Health Statistics. “National Health Interview Survey”. Hyattsville, MD, 1988. Toppo, Greg, “Obama Urges Absentee Fathers to Reengage in Their Children's Lives.” The United States Today. February 19, 2011. http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2010-06-22-obamafathersday22_ST_N.htm