At The Coach House Dublin Castle. Minister for Children Barry Andrews, TD, will launch the report. This will be followed by a seminar chaired by The Hon. Mr Justice Henry Abbott.  See below for a copy of the summary and of the full report…

Summary – Supporting Child Contact: the Need for Child Contact Centres in Ireland

Full Report – Supporting Child Contact: the Need for Child Contact Centres in Ireland

Introduction

In general One Family supports the submissions to the joint committee made by the Ombudsman for Children and by the Children’s Rights Alliance. One Family is therefore limiting its response to Clause 1 (Article 42(A).1), Clause 2 (Article 42(A) 2.1) and Clause 4 (Article 42(A).4.

Submission-PDF file -May-2008

Submission to:  Department of Social and Family Affairs

Introduction

One Family welcomes this opportunity to submit our pre-Budget submission to the Department of Social and Family Affairs. This year we are framing our submission around the ten areas that we believe are vital to addressing the inequalities experienced by one-parent families in Ireland today.
Pre-budget-submission 2007-PDF

Need for a Coherent Policy Framework

Overall, One Family believes that there is an urgent need to develop and implement a coherent policy framework for one-parent families that reflects the realities of their lives and those of their children.

The key objectives of this framework in our view would be:

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Role of One Family

One Family works with all types of one-parent families as well as with new  and blended families. Much of our work revolves around issues related to the formation and ending of family relationships. In all cases our primary concern is the impact of such situations on the child, on ensuring the availability of adequate supports for children and on supporting legal frameworks that overtly address the best interests of the child.

We therefore focus our recommendations to the Working Group with this priority in mind.
Submission-on-Domestic-Partnership-May-2006-PDF

One Family welcomes this opportunity to submit our proposals to the social partnership process.

Given the importance of the current social partnership discussions in terms of framing economic and social policy in Ireland over the next possibly ten year period, One Family is keen to ensure that the issues affecting our clients, one-parent families, are adequately addressed in the discussions and that the  current proposals for changing state supports for lone parents are clearly linked in with other major strategic developments and related funding sources.
Submission-to-Social-Partnership-PDF

One Family welcomes the opportunity to make this submission to the Office for Social Inclusion on the preparation of Ireland’s National Anti-Poverty Strategy 2006–2008. The submission is made in the  context that solo parents are increasingly disadvantaged as a group in Ireland in terms of poverty levels,
social welfare dependency and access to services that help address these issues.

Submission-to-NAPS-October-2005 PDF

One Family welcomes the opportunity to make this submission in advance of Budget 2006. One Family has designed its pre-budget submission in the knowledge that the Government is considering significant developments in  the area of support for solo parents and for childcare in Ireland. The submission is also made in the context that solo parents are increasingly  Achieving Equality and Social Inclusion for All in Ireland disadvantaged as a group in Ireland in terms of poverty levels, social welfare dependency and access to services that help address these issues.

Pre-budget-submission-2006-PDF

Submission to the All Party Oireachtas Committee on the Constitution

The changing nature of family life in Ireland

Modern family life in Ireland is remarkably different now compared with the period in which our Constitution was first developed.  With declining marriage and birth rates, higher rates of extra marital cohabitation and birth and a growing diversification of the structure of families, the typical Irish family is no longer typical.

APOCC-submission-two parts-PDF

Paper One: On Constitution which affords equal rights to all families
Paper Two:  Recognising the realities of family diversity

One Family broadly welcomes the treatment of the issue of non-marital relationships by the Law Reform
Commission on this occasion.  Particularly given that 2004 marks the 10th anniversary of the UN International Year of the Family, it is imperative that current and persistent barriers to the full equality and equal status of all families and family types, in legal, policy and service provision arenas be addressed.

law-reform-commission-PDF