This master thesis strive to gain insight into the experiences of parents from single-parent families related to the upbringing and parenting styles they apply. Also, the paper examined the satisfaction and experience of parents with the support they receive within the social system and what changes they notice in the socio - emotional development of their children.. The study included single parents with children under 18 years of age. The research was conducted in the Republic of Croatia in the period from April 26 to June 20 in 2021 through a survey questionnaire in online form, which was constructed and available on the Google forms platform in which participated 193 respondents. Due to the small number of respondents in relation to the general population, the obtained results cannot be generalized at the national level. According to the basic results of the research, it was determined that the parents who participated in the research mostly apply an authoritative parenting style and express insecurity in their own parenting competencies. The results showed that the children of the participants in the research show high levels of closeness to their parents with whom they live, and that girls show significantly more successful socio - emotional development compared to boys. Also, the parents who participated in the research believe that society is still not sufficiently sensitized to their needs and parents are the most satisfied with the support they received from their own family members and friends while they express dissatisfaction with formal forms of support. The contribution of this paper is reflected in the ability to identify the needs of parents from single-parent families for professional support and support form society to provide them necessary support and an opportunity to strengthen their own parenting competencies for the purpose of optimal development of children within the family, with special attention to risky groups.