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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 […]

New future beckons for lone parents as return to work programme records over 70% success rate MEDIA RELEASE (Dublin, Thursday 6 September 2018) One Family – Ireland’s organisation for people parenting alone and sharing parenting – has said that lone parents could fill the skills gap in the labour market if the Government were to provide […]

[Dublin 4 September] Registered charity One Family has been appointed as the provider of the HSE’s National Telephone Counselling Service for Crisis Pregnancy and Post-Abortion. The service is due to start in 2019 and will provide a national counselling service to women experiencing an unplanned or crisis pregnancy. The appointment comes following a European wide […]

Press Release | New Appointment to the Board of the Courts Service. One Family CEO Karen Kiernan appointed to the Board. One Family – Ireland’s organisation for people parenting alone, sharing parenting, and separating –  announce the appointment of its CEO, Karen Kiernan, to the Board of the Courts Service by Minister of Justice and […]

Minister Doherty must resist attempts to give blanket social welfare increases and instead use research to focus increases on the most vulnerable groups [Dublin 20 July] One Family, Ireland’s organisation for people parenting alone, sharing parenting and separating has today said Budget 2019 must focus on evidence based targeted supports rather than blanket increases to social welfare. […]

Report by the National Economic and Social Council of Ireland (NESC) – Launch and Seminar. The report is co-authored by One Family Board Chair, Dr Anne Marie McGauran, and Dr Helen Johnston, both working in the NESC and can be downloaded here. FINDINGS: In Ireland the percentage of people living in households where no-one is […]

In Ireland, Czech Republic, Germany, Italy and Scotland, new programmes promote work-family balance to support parents to enter and stay in employment. One Family – Ireland’s organisation for people parenting alone, sharing parenting, and separating –has developed two professional learning programmes designed to support lone parents and employers to work together to forge better work-family […]

On May 10th, 2018, One Family attended the annual Social Inclusion Forum (SIF) in the Aviva Stadium in Dublin.  The theme of the Forum was Social Inclusion in a Changing Environment.  The SIF was established by Government, and convened by the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection (DEASP), as part of the national structures to […]

Survey finds 75% of parents have discussed abortion with their children because of campaign. A survey by One Family, Ireland’s organisation for people parenting alone, sharing parenting, and separating, has found that over 88% of parents think the referendum posters are unhelpful with 75% confirming the campaign has led to discussions with their children about […]

One Family is aware that many parents are struggling to answer questions from their children about the abortion referendum and the associated posters, leaflets and online content. We would like to offer some support to parents so they can talk with their children with confidence. Parents are also welcome to contact our askonefamily helpline on […]

One Family One Family was founded in 1972 as Cherish and provides support, information and services to people parenting alone, those sharing parenting of their children, those going through separation; as well as to people experiencing an unplanned or crisis pregnancy. One Family believes in an Ireland where every family is cherished equally, and enjoys […]

One Family, Ireland’s organisation for people parenting alone, sharing parenting, and separating, has voiced its concern that child maintenance is to be assessed as parental income under the Affordable Childcare Scheme. According to the organisation, if child maintenance is assessed as child income rather than parental income it could significantly reduce the impact of poverty […]

One Family, Ireland’s organisation for people parenting alone, sharing parenting, and separating, welcomes the ERSI report Poverty Dynamics of Social Risk Groups in the EU in relation to the specific barriers faced by lone parents in both accessing work and their experience of higher levels of deprivation and child poverty. The paper draws on the […]

One Family welcome the launch of Sinn Féin’s proposal paper on the establishment of a statutory Child Maintenance Service. This proposal is an important first step in clearly asserting that the payment of child maintenance is not a discretionary gift, but a legal requirement, and the responsibility of both parents. It is the State’s responsibility […]

When someone in the family or community dies, children are at times kept away from it. Death is a very normal part of life and children, like adults, need to know and understand what is happening, at an age appropriate level of course. They also need closure and support to deal with the loss. Many […]

The Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC) 2016 results released in December 2017 showed: Deprivation rates for lone parents 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. […]

One Family responds to a new ESRI report which was published today that forms part of the research programme for the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Poverty Transitions in Ireland: An Analysis of the Central Statistics Office (CSO) Longitudinal Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC), 2004-2015. The report uses Irish SILC data from […]

One Family is honoured to have been selected as one of five recipients of the Dublin Bus Community Spirits Awards 2017. One Family received the top award of €5,000 along with four other worthy winners:  Anam Cara Parental & Sibling Bereavement Support; Darndale Belcamp Integrated Childcare Service Ltd; HalfTime Talk CLG and National Family Support […]

The Quarterly National Household Survey released today by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) reveals the most recent employment statistics for the period April-June (Q2) 2017. One Family has analysed the findings in relation to people who are parenting alone. In Q2 2017, the employment rate of lone parents (aged 15-64) was 58.5% (up 2.1% from 56.4%). This […]

Press Release Budget 2018: Much More Needed to Lift One-Parent Families out of Government-created Poverty Indecon Report: Government saves €45m net but parents and children are poorer despite working (Dublin, Tuesday 10 October 2017) One Family, Ireland’s organisation for people parenting alone, sharing parenting, and separating, acknowledges the announcement of the partial Income Disregard restoration […]

One Family Response to the Report ‘Indecon Independent Review of the Amendments to the One-parent Family Payment since January 2012’ A long-awaited report, prepared by Indecon Research Economists on behalf of the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection, was released late this afternoon. It is regrettable this this important report has been made available […]

Valerie Maher, our Policy & Programmes Manager, writes about some of our recent policy work. The One Family Policy Service has been focussed on pre Budget preparations over the past few weeks in advance of the Budget 2018 announcement tomorrow, Tuesday October 10th. We are anticipating the release of a report by Indecon Economic Consultants […]

Press Release Government Must Use the Evidence – Another New Report Confirms Increased Poverty in One-Parent Families   (Dublin, Monday 2 October 2017) One Family – Ireland’s organisation for people parenting alone and sharing parenting – responds to the news that a report by Indecon Economic Consultants commissioned by Government to examine the impact of austerity […]

The Department of Education has today issued a review completed by academics at Maynooth University which sought to identify the barriers lone parents face in accessing higher level education. The review also examined the trends in participation and completion rates by lone parents in higher education and the range of measures that are currently available […]