Advice for Lone Parents

My wife passed away last year and I am now a lone parent. Since last September I have been responsible for looking after our two children (aged 5 and 7). I had to give up my fulltime job in the bank and financially things are tight. I realise that the two Children will grow up fast and when they both in fulltime education I may have the opportunity to do more work. Have you any advice?

According to the CSO, there are over 189,000 lone parent families (including widowers) in Ireland, and of these 85,000 are in receipt of social welfare support through the One Parent Family payment (OPF). Just 2 per cent are male, and 12 per cent are separated – so you fall into a ‘category’ that is often the least informed about supports. The first thing to do, in the short term, is make sure that you are receiving the Child Allowance and One Parent Family payment even if you are working. You may also be eligible for certain other allowances such as a family income supplement, the early childcare benefit for your five year old, a back to school allowance for books and clothing for your seven year old, as well as rent/mortgage interest supplements, etc.

In many countries governments make financial payments to one parent families, but this stops and recipients are obliged to return to work when their youngest child is anywhere between three months of age (in the USA) or five years old (in the case of Australia). Ireland has one of the best systems in place: One Parent Family support is made from the time a child is born until the age of 18 or 22 years of age, if in full time education. There are no conditions set regarding working while receiving this payment. It is a means tested payment and a lone parent can earn up to €146.50 per week without loss of the benefit. Income between that and €425 assessed at 50% and a reduced rate of OPF is payable. Contact the Department of Social Welfare - www.welfare.ie - and arrange to have yourself means-tested for the benefit. Incidentally, a campaign to combat fraud with one parent families last year realised almost EUR 142million.

Research has shown that there is little active engagement by government departments and voluntary help groups with recipients of OPF supports, unless they seek it themselves. This is particularly true among men. Yet there are some excellent on-line supports available. Four good sources of information are the Department of Social Welfare website - www.welfare.ie, the One Parent website – www.oneparent.ie, the website of One Family – www.onefamily.ie, and an independent website – Solo.ie. Visit these sites and get your hands on a new information booklet detailing family supports and services across a range of Government Departments and agencies.

A new research report, Lone Parents and Employment: what are the real issues? was recently published by One Family. Another useful report was written by UCD. They contain useful, general advice. One of the key results of these reviews is that two-thirds of those in receipt of the OPF are working, but in low paid, part time work.

The Family and Community Services Resource Centre Programme commenced in 1994 and since then 107 Family Resource Centres have been established nationwide. The activities supported by the Resource Centres are designed to meet the needs of the local community and include the provision of: information, advice, training and practical assistance to community groups including child-care facilities for those attending courses provided by the project and after-school clubs. Visit your local Resource Centre and find out what they have to offer.

Lastly, as you say, you need to think about the medium-longer term. Your youngest child will be going to school fulltime in September 2009, and now is a good opportunity for you to consider returning to fulltime work. An obvious first place to start looking is with the financial sector, but with the current economic situation, you may want to look to other industries where you can utilize the same skills. Career direction coaching may help you to establish what your strengths are, where your motivations lie and how to set goals for yourself in the coming year.