Our beginnings
One Family has been a force of change in Irish society since our foundation as Cherish in 1972; this year we celebrate our 50th Anniversary.
We celebrate the bravery and foresight of our founders who set up Cherish in a time of struggle and heartache for many unmarried parents. They were all young women who were unmarried and parenting on their own. “It was all so crazy then, even I don’t believe it now,” says founder of Cherish, Maura O’Dea Richards. “Cherish came into existence just when the old order was beginning to give way, when women’s voices were being heard again. The tight-woven fabric of de Valera’s Ireland, which had given draconian power to the Catholic Church, was finally loosening, though not yet ready to unravel.”
Our founders lobbied government officials and within a year of our establishment, achieved the introduction of the Unmarried Mother’s allowance (as it was called then, now the One Parent Family Payment). By 1977, the founders of Cherish had secured a Dublin headquarters and enlisted Mary Robinson as their president. Maura appeared on the Late Late Show, and won an Irish Times Person of the Year Award in 1975. In 1987, after many years of campaigning, Cherish celebrated the Status Of Children Act which abolished illegitimacy.
In 2003, in recognition of changes in Irish society, we extended our services to all members of all one-parent families and renamed ourselves One Family becoming Ireland’s national organisation for people parenting alone, sharing parenting and separating. Over our 50 year history, we have had successes, set backs and heartbreak including the passing of founders and staff and in many ways things have improved for the children and families we support but there remains much more to do.
Our future
One Family continues to work to make a positive and equal future for people parenting alone, sharing parenting and parenting around separation – changing attitudes, policies, services and lives. We are immensely proud to be given the opportunity to support one-parent families and want to thank all the families and individuals who place their trust in us.
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Contact Details
8 Coke Lane, Dublin 7, Ireland D07 EN2Y
t: +353 1 662 9212 | e: info@onefamily.ie
askonefamily lo-call helpline: 0818 662212
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Trading as One Family, Cherish CLG is a company limited by guarantee not having a share capital, registered in Dublin, Ireland with registered office at 8 Coke Lane, Dublin 7 and registered Company Number 45364. One Family is also a charity (Charity Regulatory Authority No. 20012212 and Charity No. 6525).
Directors of One Family: Helen Hall, Jennifer Good, Nuala Haughey, Rosemary Wokocha, Donagh McGowan, Eimear Fisher and Jack Eustace.