Get those runners ready to join the One Family team in this year’s Vhi Women’s Mini Marathon 2017!
The Vhi Women’s Mini Marathon starts at 2pm on Bank Holiday Monday, 5 June.
Find entry forms in The Herald every Wednesday and Saturday or sign up online here.
Start your fundraising for One Family here using iDonate.
Your Vhi Women’s Mini Marathon fundraising for One Family will support us as we continue to provide vital services for parents and children of one-parent families. Our services include the askonefamily helpline, counselling, supports for young people in care, play therapy, parent mentoring and mediation, social outings, and training programmes.
Let us know when you’ve registered by emailing us, and we will give you information on receiving your One Family t-shirt. It’s going to be fun!
#RunOne
#Vhiwmm
Race information:
Date/Time: Bank Holiday Monday, 5th June 2017 at 2.00pm
Distance: 10K.
Start Line: Fitzwilliam Street Upper, Dublin 2.
Finish Line: Baggot Street Upper, Dublin 2.
Entry Closing Date: 28th April 2017 or when maximum number of entries is reached.
Fee: €20.00 entry fee + €1 processing charge
Press Release
Ireland’s Biggest Family Tree to be Created on Sunday 15th May
Annual Family Day Festival celebrates family diversity in Ireland today.
Family Day Festival | Sunday 15 May 2016 | www.familyday.ie
(Dublin, Monday 18th April 2016) One Family – Ireland’s organisation for people parenting alone, sharing parenting and separating – celebrates the wonderful diversity of families in Ireland with its sixth annual Family Day Festival taking place on Sunday 15 May from 11am-5pm in Wolfe Tone Square, Dublin 1. Brimming over with free fun and festivities, family-friendly performances, games, workshops, story-telling and lots more including Ireland’s Biggest Family Tree.
Karen Kiernan, One Family CEO, comments: “Many people celebrate Mother’s Day and Father’s Day and of course these are important, but what’s different about Family Day is that it’s inclusive of all families. One Family has been working for equality for all families in Ireland since 1972. We founded Family Day, inspired by the UN International Day of Families on 15 May annually, so that all families whatever form they take have a day where they can celebrate. Family Day is for all children – whether living in a one-parent family; married family; with unmarried parents; with same-sex parents; a foster family; extended family or friends; or any of the myriad family forms in society – so they can know that their family is valued and included.”
This year One Family will create Ireland’s Biggest Family Tree. Children across the country can draw a portrait of their own family on our leaf template which can be downloaded from www.familyday.ie. These leaves will be combined and displayed on our colourful Biggest Family Tree at Family Day on Sunday 15th May. Drawing a Family Tree can be challenging but this project aims to instil a sense of pride in one’s family, whatever form it may take. Karen further comments: “We’ve worked with diverse families for nearly 45 years and our evidence reflects what reputable research also shows: what matters for children’s outcomes is not the form their family takes, but the quality of relationships they have at home. We created Family Day a decade ago to help raise awareness of how family diversity is a positive thing for society. We still have a lot of work to do as our Constitution does not yet acknowledge this reality, and many of the families we work with are struggling more than ever. But Family Day is one day we can all get together, celebrate all family forms and simply have fun. “
One Family gratefully acknowledges Dublin Town and Dublin City Council for their support of Family Day 2016. Full event information is on www.familyday.ie
IRELAND’S BIGGEST FAMILY TREE
Be part of Ireland’s Biggest Family Tree! Ireland’s Biggest Family Tree will be created on Sunday 15th May 2016 in Wolfe Tone Square, Dublin 1. Children nationwide can be part of it. Families come in all shapes and sizes and everyone should have pride in their family form. All families matter and all families are equal.
Download the Biggest Family Tree Leaf here:
http://www.familyday.ie/wp-content/uploads/family_day_leaf_2016.pdf
TICKETS
This is an un-ticketed, free event.
LISTINGS
Sunday 15 May | Family Day Festival presented by One Family in celebration of family diversity | Family-friendly fun for all ages: magic, music, games, comedy, story-telling, arts & crafts, and lots more! | Wolfe Tone Square, beside Jervis Centre, Dublin 1 | 11am-5pm | FREE | www.familyday.ie / 01 662 9212
One Family acts as a stakeholder within the FamiliesAndSocieties project which aims to investigate the diversity of family forms, relationships, and life courses in Europe; to assess the compatibility of existing policies to family changes; and to contribute to evidence-based policy-making.
Stakeholders are an integral part of the project; providing a link between the research outputs and how they can be translated into family policies across Europe. One Family uses its knowledge and expertise from working with one-parent, shared parenting and separating families to highlight policy implications and to suggest appropriate and workable policy response.
Valerie Maher, our Policy & Programmes Manager, attended the third annual FamiliesAndSocieties meeting and stakeholder workshop earlier this year.
Some of the findings of FamiliesAndSocieties from February 2013 to December 2015 include:
- Family forms have become more varied and individual and family life courses are increasingly diverse. We need to be aware of different family forms and treat them equally; policy to support children irrespective of family forms they live in is imperative.
- Vulnerable families and their wellbeing – lone parents and large families are more “at risk” because the reconciliation of work and family is particularly challenging for them. This can lead to economic problems as well as impacting on social and emotional wellbeing (e.g. time pressure and stress, reduction of social contacts, less quality time with children).
- Forces that might be crucial for the wellbeing of (vulnerable) families were often related to worklife balance (e.g. changes in institutional childcare provision, changing gender roles) as well as the role of the “culture of work” and employers’ attitudes towards family responsibilities of their employees.
You can read more about FamiliesAndSocieties here, including the outputs and results of the project to date.