Lone parents have the highest rate of poverty among social welfare recipients, writes Frances Byrne.
The routes into lone parenthood, a condition that can affect any of us, are many - separation, divorce, desertion, death, imprisonment of a partner or an unplanned pregnancy. Whatever the route, the consequences are usually traumatic at multiple levels for lone parent and child. A variety of different supports are required to assist one-parent families to address the trauma and move forward.
While each family will have its own unique experiences, one-parent families have one thing in common: a high of risk of living in poverty. Over the past 10 years, such families have fallen further behind income trends for the rest of the population. And we are not talking about a few people - according to the 2002 Census, there are 153,863 one-parent families rearing 161,538 dependent children in Ireland.
This month marks the final one of the 10th anniversary of the UN Year of Families. It has been largely uneventful here, and there have been far fewer celebrations to mark the year than in 1994. The recent series Family Matters in The Irish Times has been one of the few media contributions to the year.
As the national network of lone-parent groups, now numbering almost 80, OPEN marked this year with celebrations among all our groups and the publication of two pieces of research on one-parent families. We have also been involved in an advisory capacity on a third. Common findings of the research revealed that lone parents have the highest rate of consistent poverty among all social welfare recipients. Children in one-parent families account for 16 per cent of all child poverty in Ireland. Households headed by a lone parent make up, on average, 43 per cent of housing lists across the State.
In 2002, 92,573 one-parent families were in receipt of social welfare supports, of whom 79,195 were in receipt of the one-parent family payment (OFP). Over 60 per cent of these families contained only one child. Two-thirds of the parents were in the 20-35 age bracket, with almost a quarter aged between 25 and 29. Only 2.3 per cent were aged under 20. Besides being the main payment received by one-parent families, the OFP also allows lone parents to work and retain a portion of the support.
The One size fits All? research, undertaken for OPEN by independent researcher Camille Loftus, examined the overall policy approach to one-parent families from 1994 to 2004. The second report, Living on the Book, a qualitative policy analysis of the OFP, was supported by the Combat Poverty Agency. OPEN was also involved as adviser on research undertaken by the Vincentian Partnership for Social Justice on living on a low income.
Loftus, who assessed the impact of income support for lone-parent families in three years - 1994, 2000 and 2004 - highlighted the reality that, in 1994, one in 20 households in consistent poverty was headed by a lone parent. By 2001, this had increased to one in five households. Thus, while others have managed to move from poverty into employment, this has not been the case for those rearing children alone. The report concludes: "Our policy goals are to increase participation in the workforce, while our childcare provision is scant and expensive, and the complex nature of the interaction between the OFP, welfare-to-work incentives and the tax system distorts lone parents' choices in relation to paid employment."
The reality of living on a low income was explored in Living on the Book, which included respondents' comments on the adequacy of their income: "Making ends meet was a huge thing. I know. When I split from my child's dad, my two friends bought nappies, because I couldn't afford them."
"No. I couldn't live [on the income from this job]. I was in serious financial trouble until I took on the part-time job; I'm doing the part-time job now since last October."
It is worth noting that the latter has two jobs - one full-time and one part-time to pay for her childcare.
The Vincentian Partnership's study provides a detailed account of how much it costs to live at a "low cost but acceptable" standard by pricing all the items a household needs - e.g., housing, food, clothes, household goods.
The inadequacy of social welfare payments for lone parents is one of its significant findings. Families have a shortfall of €23.62 per week, just to live. However, it must be noted that the budget costs determined by the study did not cost the following items: pets, alcohol, cigarettes, managing debts or paying fines. The budgets do not allow for any contingencies, not even the Tooth Fairy.
All three studies show that lone parents who are dependent on social welfare are unable to meet the basic costs of living. This means that more than 50 per cent of one-parent families in Ireland struggle to make ends meet.
For those returning to work, the costs associated with childcare make working full-time financially non-viable. When a lone parent is sole parent and sole breadwinner, he or she is unable to juggle time and money to manage and pay for care in the way that many two-parent families are able to.
All families need and deserve support and the recent Family Matters series revealed common threads across the diversity of families. There are serious gaps in policy, provision and indeed in recognition. One sad fact remains though: marriages and relationships will still fail even if society provides the necessary supports.
The fall-out from relationship breakdown is traumatic for all concerned. The fact that income poverty will inevitably follow for many lone parents and children is utterly avoidable. A more enlightened policy debate, focusing on the needs of all families in the areas of income adequacy and childcare provision, would be a great start. It should happen here in Ireland long before the 20th anniversary of UN Year of Families occurs in 2014.
Frances Byrne is director of the One Parent Exchange Network (OPEN)