Now into its second century in Bowling Green, Potter Children’s Home on Nashville Road has a plan to help address a demographic shift in family structures that has accelerated during the past 50 years.

Beginning with Thursday’s groundbreaking for a new quadplex for single parents on the 40-acre Potter campus, the children’s home established in 1914 has a long-term plan to build as many as 10 of the quadplexes catering to single parents and their children.

It’s a strategy meant to address a growing need, Potter Children’s Home Executive Director Ralph Brewer said.

“Unfortunately, the numbers of single-parent families are increasing,” Brewer said.

That’s in keeping with national trends. The Pew Research Center said single-parent families now make up 26 percent of U.S. households, representing a steady rise from the 9 percent figure in 1960.

It’s a trend that has created a shift in how Potter Children’s Home and other traditional orphanages and group homes do business.

“The majority of our population is now single-parent families,” Brewer said.

“The population fluctuates depending on how many are in each family,” he said. “We’ve had single parents with as many as five kids.”

The children’s home has adjusted to that new reality, converting much of its main dormitory-like building into apartments for single parents and helping them get back on their feet.

“In our society, it’s not uncommon to find moms with children and no place to go and no funds,” said Bob Raby, chairman of the Potter Children’s Home trustees and minister of Bowling Green’s University Heights Church of Christ. “As a Christian organization, we try to address the problem.”

The quadplex, funded primarily through a recent single large donation, will give the children’s home another tool. Brewer said it will allow him and his staff to move some single parents and their children out of the dormitory-style apartments and convert that space to offices.

Single parents and their children will then be able to move into one of the four units and begin a plan to become self-sufficient and transition out of the children’s home.

“They will transition out into society,” Brewer explained. “It’s a goals-based program. Some have to get their GED (high school diploma) and others just need to get their lives re-organized.

“We don’t charge them anything for living here, but quite a bit is expected of them. I’d say we typically have three or four move out each year. Most move out under the best of circumstances.”

This first quadplex, which carries a cost estimated at $700,000, will be followed by others over several years if funding can be found from churches and individuals.

“We have a waiting list,” Brewer said. “I would say over the next 20 years we’ll provide a home for dozens of kids.”

The groundbreaking for the quadplex is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. Thursday at the Potter Children’s Home property at 2350 Nashville Road.

“I’m looking forward to the groundbreaking,” Raby said. “The quadplex will be a tremendous asset. We’ll be able to serve more children.”