One Family Calls for Parenting and Childcare Supports for One-Parent Families

1 SEPTEMBER 2008: A leading organisation providing support services to one-parent families in Ireland, One Family, is calling on the Government to ensure adequate childcare and parenting supports are available to lone parents moving from welfare to work. The call is being made to coincide with the launch of the organisation’s Annual Review 2007. One Family research on Lone Parents & Employment, begun in 2007 and due to be launched in November 2008, shows that the majority of lone parents want to work but also believe in the importance of their parenting role and may need support in parenting and childcare to ensure their family needs are met.

Preliminary findings from One Family’s research, supported by the Department of Social and Family Affairs and funded by the Combat Poverty Agency, show that 80% of the lone parents participating in the research are currently working, looking for work or engaged in education or training; 60% of those not currently in employment were looking for work and wanted to be in employment. However, many lone parents felt that participation in employment should not be at the expense of parenting but that it should accommodate and compliment an important parenting role.

Candy Murphy, Policy & Research Manager, One Family said: “These findings indicate that lone parents require a high level of flexibility in relation to employment. People parenting alone have to organise their work around parenting responsibilities and childcare options which means that most end up working part-time hours and experience limited financial reward in relation to employment. This creates a situation where work simply does not pay for lone parents; any government plans to move lone parents from welfare to work must address these barriers and provide substantial parenting and childcare supports to lone parents in order to make work viable for this vulnerable group.”