Expressions of Interest Now Open for One Family Policy Panel 2015

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Diversity TreeAre you parenting alone or sharing parenting? Do you want your voice be heard and to be part of something that matters for one-parent families?

One Family is seeking willing participants to engage with our Policy Panel 2015. The Policy Panel will consist of ten-twelve lone parents and/or parents sharing parenting who will collaborate with us throughout 2015 in creating a Manifesto of things that Government needs to change for people parenting alone or sharing parenting and their children so they can create better futures.

Panel members will be encouraged to contribute their own lived experience and personal circumstances in order to enhance and parent proof One Family’s policy papers and budget submission. We welcome expressions of interest from women and men in a variety of circumstance, such as those in education or employment, in receipt of government supports, never married, separated or divorced and living in different areas around the country. The panelists will work with us to develop polices and submissions which reflect the lived reality for one-parent families in Ireland today.

Those interested in taking part should:

  • Wish to articulate their opinions and be comfortable discussing personal experiences and opinions, and core budget issues (housing, childcare etc.)
  • Currently live in Ireland – we hope to hear from people from both urban and rural areas
  • Be able to commit to a minimum of three hours per month (a mixture of phone and online engagement with occasional meetings in Dublin 2) on a volunteer basis

Existing One Family Members are encouraged to participate though it is not not essential for a panelist to be a Member.

If you are interested in being a One Family Policy Panelist in 2015, please complete the Expression of Interest Questionnaire here by 7 January 2015 and we will contact you in the New Year.

 

 

 

25th Anniversary of UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

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Today is the 25th Anniversary of the adoption of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Convention was adopted on 20 November 1989 and to date has been ratified by 194 countries making it the most widely ratified international human rights treaty.

Ireland signed up in 1992 and is assessed periodically by the UN on implementation progress when the State submits a report to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. The Children’s Rights Alliance also submits an independent report on behalf of non-governmental organisations. You can read its most recent report here.

The Convention details 41 different types of right which together form a set of integrated rights, usually grouped within the four categories of survival, development, protection and participation. Its adoption marked the first time that children were explicitly recognised as having specific rights.

A summary of the rights under the Convention on the Rights of the Child can be read here and a child-friendly language version is available here.

UNCRTC_Child Friendly Language

Water Charges | What You Told Us

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Every month One Family invites a response to our short, 3 question survey. Our survey for September 2014 was in relation to the proposed water charges due to commence, at the time of writing, in January 2015. The aim of the survey was to find out how those parenting alone or sharing parenting feel about the charges and how they have been implemented to date.

A selection of survey responses include:

“I often skip dinner to ensure my son will have a dinner the next day. I am sick of counting slices of bread or watching in envy when someone gets to buy a newspaper. No idea where I am meant to find the money for another bill.”

“I live in an apartment and I still do not know how much I’ll have to pay. I can’t even budget or anticipate. My daughter spends 2 nights with her dad so don’t know if this will be taken into account or not. What if he was first with sending the pack to Irish Water and he claimed the allowance first?”

“I am a lone parent to 5 year old twin boys, stuck on rent allowance. I have a disability and I’ve recently had my heating cut off because I couldn’t afford the bill and now they want €220 to switch it back on which I can’t afford . Water charges will cripple this household altogether.”

“I am a single father with two young kids living with me nearly 50% of the time. I pay maintenance on top of this. I support them fully for 50% of the time and get no child benefit. The government have already taken a tax credit from me. This is an extra insult to single fathers like me. It is almost as if Fine Gael is deliberately making it too financially difficult for single fathers to co-parent.”

“I will have to reconsider working. I am a lone parent, I earn €450 per week. €110 a week rent, €120 a week childcare, other bills including electricity, broadband, mobile, heating, car expenses etc total €150. I have nothing left over and the water charges are the last straw for me. My job, which I love, may need to take a back seat.”

You can read the full Water Charges survey results here. Take this month’s survey on Reaction to Budget 2015 here, or view all of our monthly survey results.

 

 

 

Video | Annual Review 2013 and Five Budget Demands

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One Family Annual Review 2013 CoverToday we launch our Annual Review 2013. Throughout the year, we offered 3,611 individual service offerings and 2,474 in-person service interactions; an increase on the previous year of 9%.

Also today, we reiterate our demands for Budget 2015 (our full Pre-Budget Submission can be read here) which is scheduled to be announced on Tuesday 14 October.

This short video features our CEO Karen Kiernan who summarises our Annual Review, and our Director of Policy & Programmes Stuart Duffin, who states our five key Budget demands to Government.

More New Research from Australia Proves Marriage is not Responsible for Children’s Well-being

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“Growing up in a single parent family or being raised by parents who are not married does not condemn children to a life of unhappiness, underachievement and delinquency. Rather than blaming parents and labelling their life circumstances as selfish choices, it is time for social policy debates to focus on how we can effectively support parents. Irrespective of family structure, we want parents to give their children the best possible start to life,” writes Jan M Nicholson, Roberta Holmes professor for the Transition to Contemporary Parenthood Program at La Trobe University, and advisory group member to the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children in The Guardian newspaper today.

‘Growing Up In Australia – the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children’ is important new research which reflects what One Family states and knows through 42 years of experience, study and campaigning: it is not the structure of a family that has most bearing on outcomes for children, but the quality of relationships in the family, the parent or parents’ background, and the impacts of consistent poverty.  In December 2013, we welcomed the launch of the report ‘Growing Up in a One-Parent Family’, a study by researchers at the University of Limerick using the ‘Growing Up in Ireland’ data, published by the Family Support Agency. A key finding of this study indicates that children from one-parent families and cohabiting families fare the same as children from married families when faced with similarly difficult conditions growing up.

‘Growing Up In Australia – the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children’ can be read/download here.

The report by the University of Limerick, ‘Growing Up in a One-Parent Family:The Influence of Family Structure on Child Outcomes’, is available to read/download here.