PRESS RELEASE: One-parent families must be at heart of next Programme for Government
7 November 2024
Today, One Family, Ireland’s national organisation for one-parent families, has launched its first dedicated national survey aiming to document the experiences and challenges of lone parents and their children living in Ireland.
Further to recent ESRI research, which found that being a lone parent significantly increases the risk of financial stress and overall poverty, One Family invites people living in one-parent families to help gather important data to highlight the unique challenges experienced by these families. The organisation is looking to hear from anyone parenting alone, sharing parenting or going through separation. This includes parents, step-parents, kinship carers, guardians or foster parents. Their participation will help develop research that can build a comprehensive picture of the significant and sustained life challenges faced by one-parent families across the country.
The survey can be accessed through One Family’s website here.
Completing the survey also provides parents in one-parent families with the opportunity to participate in the One Family Advocacy Project, an initiative funded by Community Foundation Ireland, which aims to promote equality, enhance wellbeing, and support financial and social inclusion of the most disadvantaged groups in Irish society.
QUOTES
Karen Kiernan, One Family CEO, said,
‘We really want to make Ireland a better place for children living in one-parent families to grow up in and we know that many parents face big challenges, especially around their financial security. Hearing directly from parents themselves is an incredibly powerful way for us to understand exactly what is happening and therefore advocate more effectively to government for positive changes.
As well as asking people to complete our survey, we are also seeking parents who would like to get more involved in our advocacy work. We know this can be extremely effective in influencing major changes to laws, policies and services.
Carly Bailey, One Family Policy Manager and the Advocacy Project Manager, said,
‘Despite overwhelming evidence and years of data demonstrating persistent, long-term poverty and deprivation rates, successive governments have failed to provide an adequate safety net for the families we advocate for. We still have a social protection system that refuses to acknowledge the unique barriers they face and the potential trauma they may be experiencing. The system is also incredibly difficult to navigate, with poverty traps around almost every corner.
Many of the families we work with continue to experience discrimination due to their family and parenting status and report high levels of shame and isolation as a result. We have a long history of treating lone parents and their children poorly in this country. It is high time it stopped.
This is why we are calling on all parents in a one-parent families to participate in our National Survey. Decision-makers might ignore the evidence, but they cannot ignore the collective voice of the families impacted by their consistent failure to act.‘
Parent, member of the new One Family Advocacy Project, said,
‘Like so many others parenting alone, I feel as if the State has abandoned my family and is ashamed of us. Why else is everything always so difficult? Like everyone else, I work really hard and do the best I can for my child, sometimes in very difficult circumstances. But with only one income coming in, I am never sure if I will be able to pay for everything each month which causes me huge anxiety. I am really looking forward to working with One Family as part of their new advocacy group and doing what I can, alongside other parents, to push for the change we deserve.’
