Success and failure starts at a very young age for us all; starting with learning to crawl and walk, we constantly deal with successes and failures throughout our lives: passing exams, getting onto the team, winning medals, getting a place in college, securing a job, etc. As a parent, it is heartbreaking to see your […]

Statement One Family’s Response to Minister Varadkar’s Statement on Lone Parents and Educational Supports One Family is disappointed to read Minister Varadkar’s statement of 17 August 2016 in relation to lone parents accessing education.  While the Minister has correctly outlined a number of supports currently available to people parenting alone, the statement fails to recognise some […]

As we fast approach the end of August, it is time to prepare both our children and ourselves for going back to school. The relaxed days and bright evenings of no homework are fewer. With only one full week to go for most, it is time to get things in place so the first week […]

Whatever the circumstances, parental separation is hard on families and big changes must be made. Keeping children at the centre of parenting and responding to their thoughts, feelings and questions, will help you to help them during this difficult time. Research shows that children normally experience one or more of the following reactions to the separation of […]

Press Release Lone Parents Thwarted by Systemic Barriers to Accessing Education Improving access to education and employment for parents will lead to ending child poverty. (Dublin, Monday 8 August 2016) One Family – Ireland’s organisation for people parenting alone, sharing parenting, and separating – again calls on Government to remove the systemic barriers to education […]

Telling a teenager that their parent is moving away to another country is a big challenge. Explaining this to a teenage child is very hard for the parent who is living with them. In my experience, there are very few teenagers that cope well with one parent leaving and moving far away when they have been […]

Leaving cert results are out on 17 August and parents and teens anxiously await to see what life holds as a result. There are so many expectations around the Leaving Certificate and CAO choices that, as a result, there is great potential for disappointment. What if your teen misses out on their top choice; what […]

We are happy to announce that enrolment is now open for the Options part-time programmes run by One Family in co-operation with Ballsbridge College of Further Education. Options programmes are free of charge and specifically designed for those parenting alone or sharing parenting. If you are looking to get back into the workplace and/or further education after a gap, or for […]

Most parents work really hard all through the school year, keeping track of what children are learning and ensuring homework gets done. But keeping your child’s brain engaged over the summer can be challenging. If you don’t keep them engaged it could take four to six weeks for them to become fully alert when they […]

How many times have you taken your children on a day trip and five minutes after you arrive, or five minutes into the car trip, you feel like saying, “That’s it! We are going home.” We put time, energy and costs into organising days out, yet it can sometimes seems that your children just don’t care. […]

Press Release Budget 2017 Must Make Work Pay for One-Parent Families   Ending Child Poverty in Ireland can only be achieved by improving access to employment and making work pay.  (Dublin, Friday 8th July 2016) One Family – Ireland’s organisation for people parenting alone, sharing parenting, and separating – calls on the Government to start the […]

It’s not always easy for parents, especially those parenting alone or with little expendable income, to establish or maintain a reasonable level of social engagement. Parent who are socially engaged generally have higher levels of self esteem. Maintaining your self esteem can help you to feel more comfortable in social situations and enable you to […]

Press Release Ireland’s First National Shared Parenting Survey Launched Today One Family will finally capture the reality for thousands of parents and children in Ireland who are not recognised (Dublin, Monday 4th July 2016) Today One Family – Ireland’s organisation for people parenting alone, sharing parenting, and separating – launches the first National Survey on […]

A family ritual, or tradition, is a practice within a family that has special meaning to family members. Family rituals provide a sense of belonging and continuity. They bring families closer together. It is often hard in our day and age to escape the pressures and daily stresses that make up our lives but having rituals […]

It is amazing to look back after your child’s first year in school and see how they have grown in confidence. However, along with this new found confidence comes a good dose of cheekiness. They have truly found their voice and will no longer conform. Now, when you ask them to tidy their room you […]

One Family is offering a unique opportunity to avail of free professional development training which normally costs €400. One Family has almost 45 years experience working with one-parent families, people sharing parenting, and separating. From 22-24 June, we will facilitate our three-day Positive Parenting for Changing Families programme in Dublin and, as the HSE Dublin South […]

Across Europe, more and more one-parent families are living in poverty. One Family is proud to collaborate as part of Stronger Families EU, a pioneering new Europe-wide initiative to help parents improve their skills and/or progress to employment. The project is a partnership between four long-established lone parent support organisations: APERIO (Czech Republic), Intermedia (Italy), One Family […]

This summer a whole new set of parents will experience, for the first time, their young teens at home and off school for three whole months. Teens will be so excited, but many parents may be questioning the logic of the Department of Education and their annual three month holiday for teenagers. They are still very […]

Are you a lone parent who would like the opportunity to meet other people parenting alone or sharing parenting after separation? Would you like your children to interact with others of the same age? Then join us this summer on any of our Social Group Summer Outings for a fun and affordable day out for your family. […]

Getting a job as a teenager is like taking on an extra subject, one that cannot be taught in school. Real learning about the world, and the people in it, can come from getting a job. If teens are working with the public they will learn to listen to and respect strangers. They learn that they […]