This website offers support for single parent members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) who are attempting to begin dating again post-divorce. It also offers general online dating tips that can be helpful for anyone wanting to understand the world of online dating.

Biography: Debra has a Master’s degree in Marriage and Family Therapy and a PhD in Clinical Psychology.  She is a generalist by training, although she works mostly with young adult clientele through individual, couple, and group therapy formats in the areas of depression, anxiety, relationship, and trauma/crisis.  She has done research in the areas of group psychotherapy and the use of outcome measures for children and adolescents in outpatient psychological treatment.  She was divorced after 3 years of marriage with two daughters, ages 1 and 2.  She was remarried a year-and-a-half later, having met her husband through LDS online dating resources.  Debra is a returned missionary and is presently a gospel doctrine teacher in her ward.

The Single Parent Dating Handbook was created by Debra and will include her personal narrative as well as her research on this topic.

General Resources for LDS divorcees and single parents

     The LDS church has resources available to support the efforts of single parents. Ensign articles and talks address topics such as single parenting, emotional and spiritual care, and development. A keyword search using “single parent” on http://lds.org will offer links to these talks and articles. The church’s Provident Living website also offers resources for single parents.

Some LDS resources on marriage and divorce include the following:

• Baca, J. (1985). Divorce, making it a growth experience. Deseret Book.
• Byrd, A. D. (1997). Finding Wholeness and Happiness after Divorce. Deseret Book.
• James, J. (2003). In flight with broken wings: A guide to being LDS and divorced. Springville, UT: Cedar Fort.

· James, J. (2006). Latter-day divorce and beyond: Surviving singlehood. Springville, UT: Cedar Fort.

• Judkins, G. L. (1987). Divorce and beyond: Keys to survival and success. Deseret Book.
• Kimball, S. W. (1976). Marriage and divorce: An address. Deseret Book.

These books may or may not talk much about dating after a divorce, there are, however, online support groups where you may be able to find social support as you navigate single parent dating. Each of the following is hosted by Yahoo!, and is not affiliated officially with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints:

• LDS-divorce-support (LDSDS) is "for members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints whose lives are affected by divorce and would like to give and receive support from others." See: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lds-divorce-support/
• LDS-divorce is "for but not limited to members of the LDS church who are going thru or have been thru a divorce. This list is for sharing information and support." See: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lds-divorce/
• LDS-divorced-dads is "for LDS dads who have gone thru or are going thru divorce. This is a support list only, a list for sharing ideas and experiences." See: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lds-divorced-dads/
• LDS-single-moms “is for single LDS (Mormon) moms. I'm a divorced lds mom and I couldn't find a group just for us! So here I am. I am inviting all single LDS mothers, whether it's by divorce, seperation, death, or if you've never been married; if you're single, LDS, and a mother please join me!” See: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lds-single-moms/
• LDS-remarried “is open to anyone LDS who is part of a second family or thinking of becoming part of a second family. It is here to help exchange ideas and support in an environment where we find new challenges over and beyond those in a first family setting”. See: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ldsremarried/

Current resources for single-parent dating

While some resources are available (as seen above), the topic of single-parent dating seems to be lacking from the resources the church has to offer online or in book form. As I attempted to assess what was available, I was unable to locate any church resources on single parent dating except for one talk, highlighted in the section on Kids and Dating, which was given to non-custodial parents. This addresses how to introduce your child(ren) to a new committed partner but gives no counsel on how to date as a single parent. A keyword search of “single parent dating” on the Deseret Book website returned no matches. Perhaps this was expected, but a keyword search on the same site for “single parent” also produced no hits. A keyword search on the Seagull Book website for “single parent dating” returned no matches, and “single parent” returned only one match: Someone to Hold by Anita Stansfield. The summary of the book ends with: “From the #1 best-selling LDS romance author…” So, in case my keywords were too specific I tried simply the word “dating” on both websites. This returned book options for general dating, teenage dating, how to date your spouse, etc. One book came up on the Seagull Book website that looks like it could meet the bar: Latter-day Divorce and Beyond: Surviving Singlehood by Jennifer James.

Coming up with only one book during a basic search is not sufficient for serving such a large portion of the LDS population! I have located others and have included them in the General Resource section. However, there appear to be little-to-no online resources. This is the reason for this website.