Press Release | One-Parent families now five times more likely than two-parent households to live in consistent poverty according to new Survey on Income and Living Conditions

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One Family – Ireland’s organisation for people parenting alone and sharing parenting – reacted with alarm at the latest figures from the Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC). The report shows that one-parent families are now five times as likely  to live in consistent poverty than two-parent households; this is an increase in the ratio from 2016 when the gap was four times as likely to live in consistent poverty. The report also shows that lone parents have the lowest disposable income and highest deprivation and at risk of poverty rates of all households with children in the State.

In 2017, individuals living in households where there was one adult with children aged under 18 continue to have the highest consistent poverty rate at 20.7% which is a decrease of 2.5% from 2016.This is compared to a consistent poverty rate of 3.9% for two-parent households. This means that lone parents are five times as likely to be living in consistent poverty compared to two-parent households.

Karen Kiernan, One Family CEO, comments: “SILC results reflect and amplify what we keep saying. People parenting alone tell us through our askonefamily helpline and our mentoring, counselling, education and other support services, that they live in constant fear on the knife edge of poverty. While there were a number of welcome measures in Budget 2019 this unacceptably high poverty and deprivation rates for one-parent families continues. There are real families behind these figures and lone parents and their children are tired of waiting.”

Valerie Maher, One Family Policy & Programmes Manager, comments: “Lone parents are still struggling to meet the costs of living for themselves and their children. This includes the basics such as housing, food, heating and clothes. This is unacceptable and should not be normalised. More needs to be done to ensure that the government commitment to lift 95,000 children out of consistent poverty remains at the top of the political agenda. Increased access to education, affordable and accessible childcare and long-term housing solutions are needed now to reverse these unacceptable trends.”

One in four families in Ireland is a one-parent family. Research shows that a key contributor to children’s futures is not the structure of their families but living in consistent poverty.

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About One Family

One Family was founded in 1972 as Cherish. It is Ireland’s organisation for one-parent families and people sharing parenting, or separating, offering support, information and services to all members of all one-parent families, to those sharing parenting, to those experiencing an unplanned pregnancy and to professionals working with one-parent families. Children are at the centre of One Family’s work and the organisation helps all the adults in their lives, including mums, dads, grandparents, step-parents, new partners and other siblings, offering a holistic model of specialist family support services.

These services include the lo-call askonefamily national helpline on 1890 662212, counselling, and provision of training courses for parents and for professionals. One Family also promotes Family Day every May, an annual celebration of the diversity of families in Ireland today (www.familyday.ie).

SILC 2017 results can be viewed here.

One Family’s pre-budget submission can be read here.

For further information, visit www.onefamily.ie.

We need your help…particularly Dads parenting alone or sharing parenting!

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We need help…particularly from Dads parenting alone or sharing parenting. We represent and support all one-parent families. To help us be the best we can, we are asking you to take part in a quick, completely anonymous survey. It will take no more than 8-10 minutes to complete and will help us serve the needs of all one-parent families into the future. Thank you to everyone who has already completed the survey and if you know of anyone parenting alone or sharing parenting who might be interested in completely it please share. Thanks from all at One Family

Please click on the link below to complete the survey :
https://bit.ly/2pArSxM

Fond farewell to the Chair of our Board Dr Anne-Marie McGauran

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On Wednesday 24 October we bid a fond farewell to the Chair of our Board Dr Anne-Marie McGauran. Anne-Marie has been a Board member since 2001 and played a pivotal role in the success of One Family over that period. She is unique amongst our ‘Boardies’ as she held the roles of Company Secretary, Treasurer and for the past year, Chair.  A passionate advocate of one-parent families, Anne- Marie used her social policy expertise to oversee One Family and our clients through some of the darkest periods in our history including the financial crisis and the savage 2012 budget cuts.
We are particularly grateful for Anne-Marie’s diligence, leadership and expertise on the Governance Code as she steered us to full compliance at a very early stage. We wish Anne-Marie well, thank her and her family for all the time she spent with us and we hugely appreciate her leadership, expertise, commitment and compassion to the organisation and the families we support and represent. We look forward to welcoming our new Chair, Sinéad Gibney who will lead the development of our next 3 year strategy. Sinéad is a former service user of One Family, inaugural Director of the Irish Human Rights & Equality Commission and a consultant trainer.

Press Release | Budget 2019: Positive step in the right direction but much more needs to be done on child maintenance and access to education.

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One Family, Ireland’s organisation for people parenting alone, sharing parenting, and separating welcome the additional QCI increase of €5.20 for children over 12 which acknowledges the higher costs faced by lone parents with older children, many of whom were disproportionately impacted by the One-Parent Family Payment reforms. The next steps require significant and prolonged investment in key public services such as health, housing, education and childcare and a whole of government approach must be in place to achieve this.

Karen Kiernan, One Family CEO, said:“We broadly welcome Budget 2019 which includes many targeted steps that will impact positively on children living in poverty. The child maintenance disregard for the Working Family Payment (WFP) is a particularly positive step towards the recognition of child maintenance as a separate and independent income for children. We encourage Government to apply these disregards to all state supports and payments to make sure children living in the poorest families can directly benefit. Government must also take the burden of seeking child maintenance away from the parent with care responsibilities and establish a standardised, State supported process for child maintenance.”

Ms Kiernan added, “The Budget also provided limited measures to support lone parents back to education with anomalies between Back to Education Allowance, housing supports and the SUSI maintenance grant remaining in place. This is a consistent and significant barrier to lone parents returning to education and needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency. Budget 2019 was a positive step in the right direction in reducing the disproportionate child poverty rates impacting on children in one-parent families but much more needs to be done on child maintenance, investment in key services and access to education.’

One Family’s Pre-Budget Submission 2019 included recommendations designed to support lone parents into education and/or employment, while acknowledging their parenting responsibilities. It can be read here.

Press release | Budget 2019 is last opportunity for Government to deliver on 2020 child poverty commitments

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One week out from Budget 2019 leading national charities call on Government to ensure child poverty target will be decisively acted on.

(Dublin 2 Oct 2018) Today in Dublin a group of leading national charities has said that time is running out for the Government to deliver on its 2020 child poverty commitments. Barnardos, the Children’s Rights Alliance, Early Childhood Ireland, One Family and St Vincent de Paul have come together to remind Government about commitments made in the national strategy for children and young people: Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures to lift 100,000 children out of poverty by 2020 and to offer advice on key actions that must be taken now.

Karen Kiernan, CEO of One Family said, “It is crucial that Government targets supports to Ireland’s poorest children who are primarily living in one-parent families. The way to combat this is with targeted supports such as the full restoration of the income disregard for lone parents in receipt of social welfare payments to what they were before cuts in Budget 2012 and to target the poorest children by increasing the portion of a social welfare payment for children again in this budget.”

June Tinsley, Barnardos Head of Advocacy said “Education is the key to breaking the cycle of poverty and enabling children to reach their potential. Budget 2019 must see significant investment in our education system so all children can fully participate, without schools being forced to ask parents for funds and parents aren’t continuously overburdened by school costs which disproportionately affect children from low income families”.

Caroline Fahey, SVP Head of Social Justice said, “Almost 4,000 children in Ireland are homeless, with many others living in insecure, poor quality and overcrowded accommodation due to the high cost of rents and the shortage of social housing.  Increasing the supply of housing provided by local authorities and Approved Housing Bodies would offer families the security of an affordable long-term home, protecting children from the risk of homelessness and allowing families to plan for the future.”

Teresa Heeney, CEO of Early Childhood Ireland “Access to quality early childhood education and care is tremendously beneficial for all children, yet some very vulnerable children are at risk of missing out on this opportunity due to proposed rules. It is imperative that these children are not left behind in Budget 2019. We call on Government to put in place a mechanism to identify these vulnerable children, and to allocate robust funding for targeted subsidies to safeguard both their rights and those of their families.”

Tanya Ward, Chief Executive of the Children’s Rights Alliance said: We know that children are going to bed hungry and that 25% of children under eight years old are overweight or obese.  This is a public health crisis. We need to see leadership from the highest levels of Government to ensure that nutritious meals are made available and easily accessible for children living in poverty particularly those suffering with chronic health issues and struggling to concentrate in school.”

She continued, “Healthcare can be hugely expensive for families living on low incomes. The income thresholds for the Medical Card have not been revised since 2005, leaving many children and families unable to access healthcare. With access to free GP cards now a long term objective for the Government, it is crucial that we consider other measures to provide adequate healthcare to the families.”