One Family welcomes restructuring of Child Benefit

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Media Release, 14 August 2012

One Family welcomes restructuring of Child Benefit

Following reports that wealthy parents will be able to hand back the €140-a-month child benefit payment to the State if they wish, under new measures being drawn up by Government officials, One Family’s Stuart Duffin states, ‘As part of our submission for Budget 2013 we are recommending a restructuring of Child Benefit to ensure that it is tailored to those most in need.’

One Family recommends the following approach to child benefit:

An unconditional, non-withdrawable income payable to each child as a right.

A second level payment tailored to the needs of the family ensuring that the needs of economically disadvantaged families, such as those parenting alone, are fully recognized. This second level assistance should be seen as income and therefore means-tested, for example through the tax system, and could be paid to low income families as a refundable tax credit.

Duffin continues, ‘Putting money into the hands of low-income families and in particular lone parents, who will spend that money at businesses in their communities, helps keep the economy moving. Increases to incomes will go directly to the purchase of food, clothing and other household necessities, benefiting not only low-income families but also our economy.’

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For more information contact:

Hilary Fennell, Communications Manager, One Family, 01 6629212

or

Stuart Duffin, Welfare to Work Manager, One Family, 01 6629212

 

Discrimination against parents in schools must end

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Discrimination against parents in schools must end –

One Family calls for a national policy

Media Release, 26 July 2012

Following the exclusion of a young mother from secondary school in Tipperary, the negative findings of the Ombudsman for Children in this matter and the unrepentant response from the former principal involved, One Family calls on Minister Quinn to provide a national policy on school age parents.

One Family Director Karen Kiernan explained: “It is extremely unfortunate that 40 years after the establishment of our organisation, Irish society is still being shocked by the discriminatory and judgmental actions of a minority. It is time that publically funded schools are no longer permitted to practice such damaging discrimination and we call for a national policy on young parents and post-primary education. Research indicates that young parents can become distanced from education more easily than other young people. This can then negatively impact on their ability to provide an adequate income for their family in the future.”

Kiernan continued: “Without knowledge or reference to any particular case, young people can become pregnant in a number of ways and not always consensually or with their full knowledge. An awareness of the sensitivity of young people’s sexuality, practices, crisis pregnancy and needs as parents are required by schools and teachers in order to support all students.

“Whilst we welcome the fact that the Minister does not support the actions of the principal involved in the Tipperary case, it is time to ensure this cannot happen again to another young parent.”

One Family works to support women and couples through unplanned and crisis pregnancies; we provide specialist parenting supports for people parenting alone and sharing parenting of their children; we support lone parents into education, training and employment; we provide a national helpline to one-parent families. More at www.onefamily.ie

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Contact: Karen Kiernan, Director, One Family.   T: 01 662 9212             M: 086 850 9191

Minister Burton considers One Family requirement for lone parents to work part-time

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Requirement for lone parents to work part-time is being seriously considered by Minister Burton

Media Release, 2 July 2012

At the launch of One Family’s Annual Review and Graduation, One Family got an opportunity to publicly critique recent cuts aimed at lone parents and Minister Burton got to hear, first hand, stories of triumph over hardship from some of the 150 lone parents who were graduating from One Family Welfare to Work Programmes.

Minister Burton announced that the requirement for lone parents to be required to work part-time, rather than full-time is being seriously considered, if they are moved off the One Parent Family Payment and onto Job Seekers Allowance when their youngest child is seven.

‘This is a positive and necessary move as it is completely unreasonable to expect lone parents to be available for full time work, particularly given the lack of provision of childcare and afterschool care in Ireland,’ says Karen Kiernan, One Family Director.

One Family also used the opportunity to re-iterate the recommendations from its Ten Solutions campaign to the Minister. Ten Solutions are all about delivering some of the supports needed to enable lone parents to have Smarter Futures – to help them out of poverty, off social assistance and into quality, sustainable jobs.  These solutions may not require a lot of money but they do require public services and policy makers to think and behave creatively so that we can deliver more appropriate and effective services.

For the full Ten Solutions see https://www.onefamily.ie/wp-content/uploads/Ten-Solutions-final.pdf

For further information or to arrange an interview with a spokesperson:

Contact Hilary Fennell, Communications Manager, One Family 087 2359515/ 01 6629212

 

Min Joan Burton TD addresses Lone Parents at One Family Graduation

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Media Release

Minister Joan Burton TD addresses Lone Parents as they graduate from One Family Welfare to Work Programmes

Part-time requirement to work being seriously considered by Minister Burton – announcement at the launch of our Annual Review 2011 and graduation today. Following a critique of recent cuts aimed at lone parents and recommendations from One Family, the Minister has undertaken to review how lone parents will be moved onto Job Seeker’s Allowance when their youngest child is 7. This is a positive and necessary move as it is completely unreasonable to expect lone parents to be available for full time work.

Friday 29 June 2012, St Andrews Resource Centre, Dublin 2 Over 150 lone parents graduated today from a wide range of career and personal development programmes run by One Family, Ireland’s leading organisation for one-parent families.

Speaking at today’s graduation, and at the launch of One Family’s Annual Review, Minister for Social Protection, Joan Burton, TD stressed the need for a joined up approach to the delivery of services for one-parent families.

Also speaking at the launch, The Norwegian Ambassador, His Excellency Mr Roald Naess, commented that we should, ‘Dispel the notion that Norway has a good welfare system because of oil. Norway has an effective welfare system because it views the system as an investment in human capital which delivers opportunities for people.’

Explaining how One Family services aim to do just that, Karen Kiernan, One Family Director, said, ‘Improved co-ordination of services for lone parents will ensure that they get the personalised support that they need, whilst avoiding unnecessary duplication. One Family understands that lone parents often face multiple barriers to their progress, all of which need to be addressed. For example, a lone parent who has been out of the job market for ten years will have training needs, but will also require access to career counselling and employment services. That is why our programmes, including the flagship New Futures initiative, take an holistic approach to each parent’s needs, offering tailored help in the shape of career, personal, employment and mentoring support.’

One Family Welfare to Work programmes give lone parents, who are most at risk of being long-term unemployed, the supports they need to get them into the jobs market or back to education. The programmes have a high success rate – from this year’s 150 graduates 80% of parents have already progressed to work, mainly part-time, and 70% are moving on to third level education.

Stuart Duffin, One Family Welfare to Work Manager added, ‘It has been a real honour to work with the 150 committed and hard-working lone parents on our many and varied programmes over what has been a very difficult year for one-parent families. One Family is proud to host today’s graduation and we will continue to work to create better lives for lone parents and their children.’

One Family’s Ten Solutions Smarter Futures campaign has ten effective cost neutral administrative and management solutions to facilitate those parenting alone back into work and education, as Stuart Duffin continued, ‘We welcome Minister Burton’s statement on the need for affordable childcare, and we have nine other suggestions for getting lone parents off welfare and back to work.’

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 For further information or to arrange an interview with a spokesperson:

Contact Hilary Fennell, Communications Manager, One Family 087 2359515/ 01 6629212

 

Note to Editors:

For more information on One Family Welfare to Work Programmes see

https://www.onefamily.ie/families/education-skills-employment/

 

For more information on One Family Ten Solutions Campaign see

One Family,Ten Solutions – cost neutral solutions to help lone parents back into work & education

 

About One Family

One Family has been providing specialist family support services to people parenting alone and sharing parenting for 40 years.  Services include parenting and skills training, counselling, parent mentoring and national information supports.

 

 

 

 

 

Thousands Celebrate Family Day in Iveagh Gardens

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INTERNATIONAL DAY OF THE FAMILY CELEBRATED WITH FAMILY DAY PICNIC & FREE ENTERTAINMENT IN IVEAGH GARDENS
 
THOUSANDS ATTEND PICNIC HELD BY ONE FAMILY AND EBSTO CELEBRATE FAMILIES IN IRELAND
 
Sunday 13th May, 2012 One Family and EBS came together to celebrate Irish families by hosting a free Family Day picnic in Iveagh Gardens. Hundreds of families joined the fun for Family Day by either attending the picnic in Iveagh Gardens or by hosting their own event with their family to celebrate family diversity in Ireland.

Speaking about Family Day, Doireann Sweeney of EBS said: “EBS is delighted to be partnering with One Family to celebrate International Day of the Family for the third year in a row. It’s great to have so many families in the one place enjoying the day. Families are important to EBS and that’s why we partnered with One Family in the lead up to today. I’d like to congratulate everyone on all their hard work in making today a huge success.”

Today, families were invited to a free day of fun in The Iveagh Gardens and were encouraged to bring picnics to enjoy together. Activities ncluded arts and crafts workshops, fun sports for all the family, story telling, face painters, drama workshops, magicians and other live entertainment. Those who couldn’t make the picnic were encouraged to host their own fun event. Hundreds of children entered the Family Portrait competition – by simply drawing or painting their family portrait. The prize is €500 and the competition remains open until 31st May – all details on www.familyday.ie.

Karen Kiernan, Director of One Family, the national organisation for one-parent families, said: “We are passionate about Family Day because it can be a positive life-affirming event for children in all families but particularly those in diverse families. Mother’s Day and Father’s Day are international institutions but they do leave out lots of children every year and they can cause awkwardness and exclusion despite the best efforts of parents and teachers. However the concept of Family Day is so broad that everyone should be able to see themselves reflected in the notion of family no matter what size or shape their family is. Even for those children who may not be living in their family of choice or birth, we hope that they can find something positive and celebratory in Family Day.

*Terms and conditions apply

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For further information contact:
Hilary Fennell, One Family, 087 2359515

Suzanne Sullivan, Q4PR, 01-4751444/086-3797291
 
Notes to editors:
 
UN definition of the family: “any combination of two or more persons who are bound together by ties of mutual consent, birth and/or adoption or placement and who, together assume responsibility for, inter alia, the care and maintenance of group members, the addition of new members through procreation or adoption, the socialisation of children and the social control of members”.

For more information on UN International Day of the Family see www.un.org/esa/socdev/family/IDF.html

About One Family:
One Family is Ireland’s leading organisation providing specialist support services for people parenting alone and sharing parenting. Services include parenting and skills training, counselling, parent mentoring and a national helpline askonefamily which can be reached on 1890 66 22 12 or www.onefamily.ie