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Parents’ Organisations Slam Misinformation on Children’s Referendum

Mainstream parents’ organisations slam misinformation relating to the Children’s Referendum in Dublin today.  Urging all parents to vote YES in the Children’s Referendum on Saturday 10 November 2012, six parents’ organisations have come together to set the record straight. Chaired by Áine Lynch of the National Parents Council  Primary, the five other organisations are the Mothers’ Union (Olive Good); National Parents Council Post-Primary (Jackie O’Callaghan); One Family (Karen Kiernan); OPEN (Frances Byrne); and Treoir (Margot Doherty).

These mainstream groups have come together to dismiss claims by individuals and small groups, purporting to represent parents, that the Children’s Referendum is an attack on family and parents’ rights.  Parents and families are central to a child’s life. Each of the organisations believe that this referendum will help empower parents to ensure that the State upholds their child’s rights and are calling on all parents to vote YES on Saturday 10 November 2012.

 Speaking at the press conference, Áine Lynch of the National Parents Council Primary, says: “Affording children rights is not about diminishing the rights of parents or the family or indeed increasing the rights of the State. It is about society in Ireland making a statement of value about its children. The National Parents Council Primary urges people to get out and vote on November the 10th.  It is vital that, as a modern society, we give the strongest message possible that Ireland values its children.”

 Olive Good, of Mother’s Union, says: “The Children’s referendum represents a positive step in the State’s willingness to prioritise children by protecting them and ensuring their rights.”

Jackie O’Callaghan, of National Parents Council Post Primary, says: “The National Parents Council Post Primary is very pleased to support a YES vote in the forthcoming Children’s Referendum.  It is imperative that we now look to the future, learn from the mistakes of the past and safeguard our most precious resource: our children.”

Margot Doherty, of Treoir, says: “The Children’s Referendum, if passed, will mean that, for the first time, there will be a clear statement of children’s rights in the Irish Constitution.  Treoir believes that, inherent in these rights, are a child’s right to identity and to a relationship with both their parents.”

Frances Byrne, of OPEN, says: “The Children’s Referendum spells out the State’s duty to safeguard the rights of all children and, critically, it establishes the same threshold of protection to all children, regardless of whether their parents are married or unmarried.”

Karen Kiernan, of One Family, says: “We particularly want to welcome the proposed introduction of mandatory consultation with children in proceedings relating to them. Children are rarely consulted and there are no appropriate systems to do so. There are excellent models from other jurisdictions in how to appropriately hear children’s voices in court in a way that is meaningful for the child and helpful for the judiciary and parents.”

All six organisations are supportive of the Yes for Children campaign, which is led by Barnardos, the Children’s Rights Alliance, the ISPCC and Campaign for Children.

 

Kildare FM did a great interview with Mary  about what it was like to be a single parent 40 years ago on www.kfmradio.com. Go to Podcasting on the left hand side, then click on “Kildare Today” Podcasts, and you will see it there.

Thanks to Annette and Linda for sharing their stories of parenting alone and their experience of One Family. See more client stories here

 

The Irish Independent did a great interview with Maura Richards O’Dea, one of the orignal founders of One Family,

http://www.independent.ie/lifestyle/parenting/i-was-shunned-because-i-was-a-single-mum-3263786.html

Fintan O’Toole has written a very moving tribute to the founders of One Family in today’s Irish Times – commending their bravery in refusing to be ashamed of being single mothers – and challenging the government to act with similar courage and lack of shame by refusing to accept bailing out Anglo and Nationwide

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2012/1023/1224325577694.html

Happy 40th! One Family Founder Members – Ailen Mulhern, Evelyn Forde, Aileen Kelly, Nuala Feric, Karen Kiernan – Director One Family ,Mary Liddy, Mary Kerrigan, Annette Hunter Evans

Thanks to everyone who joined us in the Pillar Room at the Rotunda last night for a wonderful celebration of the work One Family/ Cherish has done over 40 years – and looking forward to what has yet to be achieved for better lives for one-parent families – see some of our impressive founders here on the RTE TV news at 17 minutes 25 seconds http://www.rte.ie/player/ie/show/10066711/

 

Thanks to Katherine and Joanna for sharing their One Family experiences with us. We will be posting more stories from clients over the next week, to mark our 40th anniversary year.

To mark the 40th Anniversary of Cherish/ One Family we’re delighted that Poolbeg Press has re-issued ‘Single Issue’ – the memoir of Cherish’s key founder Maura O’Dea Richards, as an eBook. See here http://www.amazon.co.uk/Single-Issue-ebook/dp/B009OJ8YGA/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8 It only costs €5 and Maura is donating any profits to the charity. It is a great read – all about her memories of setting up Cherish and her own personal story.

Read our Clients’ Stories of how One Family helped them

To mark the occasion of our 40th, some of our clients have kindly shared their stories with us and we will be publishing them on the website all this week. See the first of them here, thank you to Marian Tannam and Rebecca for these stories.

This interesting piece in today’s Irish Examiner explains how some brave single parents set up One Family, forty years ago, when things were very different in Irish society.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/alone-we-stood-210918.html

 

To mark our 40th Anniversary, Maura O’Dea Richards, the founder of Cherish, and Karen Kiernan, the current Director of One Family, were on Pat Kenny this morning – they are on at 34 minutes into the show.

http://www.rte.ie/radio1/todaywithpatkenny/

Press the green play button

We used to be called Cherish and we’d love everyone who has been involved over the years – clients, staff, supporters – to join us for a big celebratory event in Dublin’s Pillar Room on the Thursday 18 Oct. We will be recalling the past, with some of the founder members of Cherish, and looking to the future as One Family.  The seminar will also be interspersed with voices of parents from over the years, audio footage and a short video. There will also be visual displays about the work of the organisation. Places are limited and will be strictly by invite only so if you’d like to come call 01 662 9212 or email  info@onefamily.ie.

For more information see here

 

 

 

 

No More Punishment for one-parent families – Smart Steps to equity

in Budget 2013

Media Release, Thursday 11 October 2012

Launching their solution-focused  plan to ensure income security for lone parents, Karen Kiernan, Director of One Family, Ireland’s leading organisation for one-parent families says ‘There can be absolutely no more cuts or changes aimed at lone parents in Budget 2013. They are still reeling from the cuts in last year’s budget which saw the poorest families and children becoming even poorer as a direct result of the ill-thought out changes. As a service provider, over the last year we have witnessed how such changes caused untold hardship to one-parent families, many of whom were already struggling, and further distanced lone parents from the labour market.’

One Family calls for the Government to take an equity approach to Budget 2013, addressing the need for a tailored income support system which would ensure a basic level of income security for lone parents so that everyone, regardless of circumstance, can live with dignity in Irish society.

Stuart Duffin, One Family Welfare to Work Manager explains, ‘We are asking Government and Minister Burton to listen to and reflect on the necessary steps, which include reversing some of the negative changes and introducing new positive ones.’

Here is a summary of the Smart Steps:

Stuart Duffin concludes, ‘The best way forward is to set the foundation for a sustained recovery through strategic investments in our social safety net. Currently, the system is unfair and traps lone parents in poverty and unemployment. If our advice is not followed, any more piece-meal changes will do little more than transform an awful system into a bad one.’

For the full Ten Solutions Campaign click here

For the full One Family Pre Budget Submission click here

Ends

For more information contact:

Hilary Fennell, Communications Manager, One Family  T: 01 662 9212  M: 087 2359515

Stuart Duffin, Welfare to Work Manager, One Family T: 01 662 9212 M: 087-0622023

 

 

A new website has been set up with information on the upcoming Children’s Referendum. It proposes to place a dedicated Article in the Constitution, which has children as its central focus.

www.childrensreferendum.ie

One Family Parenting Co-ordinator Geraldine Kelly is giving a workshop on Managing Family Separation, for Dublin City Childcare Focus Group, it’s free of charge on Wednesday, 24th October from 6:00-8:30pm at Wynn’s Hotel, 35-39 Lower Abbey Street, Dublin 1

Topics covered will include:

The closing date for booking is Friday, 19th October 2012. 01 222 3259 community.forum@dublincity.ie

Dublin has plenty of events happening throughout Autumn for children and their families. Here are a few that you can check out:

v  Art Workshops for children can be found every Saturday at the National Gallery of Ireland from 15:00 onwards, and they’re free to go to.  Merrion Square West, Dublin 2.

v  On Thursday the 27 of September there will be a free children’s workshop for all ages in the National Library of Ireland, 2 Kildare Street, Dublin 2.

v  Niamh Sharkey the world renowned children’s book illustrator is hosting a Monster Doodle Workshop to launch the Children’s Book Festival on October 1st. Visit your local library or email info@childrenslaureate.ie for more information on how to take part.

v  Trio Time is an opportunity for young children and their grown-ups to make music together and to learn about different instruments in a relaxed, fun workshop. Learn & Explore musicians will tell participants about their instruments and demonstrate their special sounds. Participants will be invited to join in the music-playing through singing, moving and playing simple hand percussion.

10:30am 1 & 2 year olds
11:20am 3 & 4 year olds
12:10pm 5 & 6 year olds

These workshops can be found in the National Concert Hall · Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin 2, Dublin and the price is €7.50 for an adult and €6.00 for a child. These classes run until the 29th of September 2012.

v  The Botanical Gardens have organised a “decorate your own pumpkin” competition, with a prize for the most imaginative entry. The competition runs from the 21st of October until the 5th of November. Only the skin is to be decorated and there can be no carving of the pumpkin in case it turns bad.

v  From the 28th of September until the 14th of October The Ark and Dublin Theatre Festival will be showing fantastic performances geared towards children aged 2-12 years. Below you can find a list of performance dates and a description of each performance. Tickets cost €10.00.

White   2-4 years                                                              28th September – 4th of October:

Here’s what the Ark has to say about the performance:

“Welcome to the beautifully strange world of White. Full of birdsong and birdhouses, it gleams and dazzles and shines in the night. Two friends look after the birdhouses and make sure the eggs stay safe. Their world is bright, ordered and white. But high up in the trees, all is not white. Colour appears. First red… then yellow… then blue…”

Ha Ha Ha 4+ years                                                          6th-7th of October:

A clowning performance that has had children and adults alike rolling in the aisles since its creation 10 years ago.

Mouth Open, Story Jump Out  8-12 years              9th-11th of October:

An interactive storytelling show and how and why we make things up.

Potato Needs A Bath  3-5 years                                 12th-14th of October:

A gentle and light-hearted new show for young children featuring fruit, vegetables and original music.

v  The Ark is a great centre found in Temple Bar that provides loads of fun and interesting activities for children and their carers. From Monday the 29th of October until Sunday November the 25th they will be opening The Telling Tall and Tiny Tales Experience. This is an interactive book experience with storytellers, workshops, and illustrators coming in different days to share their exciting world. Tickets are €4.00

v  On October 31st master storyteller Niall de Burca will be telling spooky tales for all the family at The Ark, Temple Bar. Tickets are at a first come, first served basis.

 

Best Will in the World Week takes place from Monday 22nd – Friday 26th October, organised by MyLegacy, a coalition of over 70 Irish charities, including One Family.

Solicitors across the country will offer will consultations to the general public for a flat fee of €50. Those interested in making or updating an existing will, are also being encouraged to leave a gift to their favourite charity in their will after loved ones have been looked after. See www.mylegacy.ie for a list of participating solicitors and charities.