I thank the Chairman and members for the invitation to address the committee on its work on lone parents and their children.
Barnardos is Ireland's children's charity and we worked with more than 13,000 children and families in 2015, at least 35% of whom were lone parent households. We offer a range of services such as family support, early years services, one-to-one parenting support and the guardian ad litem service.
Barnardos believes that any discussion on lone parents must start by realising they are not a homogenous group.
They are parenting alone because they are single, separated, divorced or widowed. They span all age categories. From the child’s perspective, the reality is that many of these parents are co-parenting with their ex-partners.
We know that one in five children is living in a lone-parent household. The diversity behind those front doors is striking. Approximately 53% of lone parents are in employment. Over 40% of lone parents have not completed second level education. This has an impact on the types of jobs available to them. Most lone parents who are in employment are in skilled, semi-skilled or unskilled work that offers low wages. Unfortunately, the combination of low levels of education, low wages and welfare dependency means that children living in one-parent family households are twice as likely as other children to live in consistent poverty. Rates of deprivation are also much higher in lone-parent households, with 60% of such households with one or more children experiencing deprivation. This compares with a rate of 29% among the general population. In terms of the impact on well-being, it has been found that children in lone-parent families are more likely to suffer from long-term illness or disability than the children of married or cohabiting couples. There is also a significantly higher level of social difficulty among such children, some of whom engage in more unhealthy dietary habits.
We know from our day-to-day work with lone-parent families that living on the breadline means living from day to day, being unable to save, experiencing constant stress about being able to provide for family members, having parental feelings of inadequacy and dreading unexpected bills. An atmosphere of dread can be associated with children's birthday invites and special occasions. Children are perceptive to stresses. They often internalise their feelings and actions because they do not want to place further financial pressures on their parents. As one lone parent aptly described it to me:
Not being able to provide things for your child is an everyday life struggle. I don’t believe in spoiling children but you should be able to buy them at least something or let them do an activity or sport they enjoy and if you do then something else has to suffer. You just haven’t got the money. Once you pay your bills the next thing is buying food for the week and then you can literally count the pennies on one hand that’s left. You want to be able to have the price of an ice-cream for your child or pay the €2 a week for soccer, it's only a bit of change but most weeks you just can’t do it. To say no to your own child so often is just heart-breaking.
I was told by another lone parent that not being able to afford medicine for her son because they are not covered on the medical card makes her feel inadequate and makes him more vulnerable.
I wish to speak about what has been done to support lone-parent families. We know there are ongoing concerns at a policy level about the increase in jobless households in Ireland. The continuing mantra that a job is the route out of poverty led to the reform of the one-parent family payment scheme, the aim of which was to increase the participation of lone parents in the labour market. These reforms, which were rolled out from 2011 to 2015, lowered the age of eligibility of the youngest child from 18 to seven. We believe that when these reforms were pushed through, there was a failure to recognise that because lone parents are full-time carers to their children, work and family responsibilities are much harder on them than on couples or married families. Our view is that the biggest flaw in these reforms was that they were not accompanied with sufficient supports, such as quality affordable child care, to enable and support lone parents to take up training or employment.
As Dr. Millar outlined, a major unintended consequence of these reforms has been that many lone parents who were in employment have ended up being financially worse off, with many of them having to leave their jobs. More recent policy developments and announcements have tried to ameliorate this to some small extent. For example, budget 2017 saw the partial restoration of the weekly income disregard that applies to lone parents when it was increased from €90 to €110. This single measure will help to keep some lone parents in employment. There has been an increase in investment in subsidised child care to help to address the exorbitant high fees that are charged to parents. While investment in this sector is much needed and is preferable to other approaches such as tax credits, Ireland is starting from a very low base so it will be a while before parents feel the real benefit. It is crucial for the new single affordable child care programme to guarantee that the current recipients of various child care schemes are not worse off. It is also crucial that there is in-built flexibility in the system to facilitate parental transitions, school holidays, school pick-ups and shift work patterns.
Barnardos has reflected on what can be done to improve outcomes for children.
When considering how we, as a society, can improve the outcomes for children in lone parent families, we must remember that family type is not the strongest predictor of a child's well-being. The mother's education level and the quality of the parent-child relationship are far more important to a child's development than any other factor. Therefore, the promotion of positive and confident parenting and the availability of timely interventions are among the most effective steps the State can take to improve outcomes for children. This combination can break down cycles of disadvantage and poverty and benefit all children, not only those in lone-parent families. The evidence is unequivocal. There are few differences in the abilities of babies across the socio-economic spectrum at birth. However, by the age of three years some concerning differences emerge as a child's life experiences are shaped by parents and environment.
Barnardos agrees with the assessment of one lone parent that inequality is embedded across societal structures. This raises the question of why children's futures are so predictable with reference to what their parents earn or where they live. Do all children not deserve to be cherished equally and given the same opportunities to thrive and reach their potential, irrespective of household income or parental marital status? Barnardos has put forward several recommendations for the committee to consider in answer to that question. We believe we need to create a level playing field and tackle child poverty. The way to do this is through a combination of adequate income supports and quality accessible public services.
One of our recommendations in the area of income supports relates to the need to recognise that the cost of going to work is higher on lone parents since they do not have other incomes of which to avail. Costs such as those arising from transport and child care need to be factored in when considering whether to take up work or training. Subsequently, in-work supports, such as the family income supplement, are crucial to ensuring that starting work yields an increase in household income. Greater flexibility with the 19 hours criteria applicable to the family income supplement is needed to ensure more lone parents can take up work, even if it is of the low-paid variety.
Child benefit is another matter that requires consideration. Given the additional cost of rearing teenagers, a higher rate of child benefit should be paid to those children aged over 12 years. That has been long recommended by the Vincentian Partnership for Social Justice, which has calculated that families with teenagers are living further below the poverty line than other family types.
The rates of the back-to-school clothing and footwear allowance should be increased. Barnardos has consistently raised the issue of the extraordinary financial burden of school costs on parents. We continue to call for the provision of a genuinely free primary education system, as envisaged in the Constitution. Until that is attained, we believe that the back-to-school clothing and footwear allowance should be increased because it was harshly cut during the recession. Since it is a targeted payment, it hurt those most in need. The current rates of €100 for a primary school pupil and €200 per secondary school pupil are simply too little when compared against the current costs of school uniforms, shoes and other associated costs.
Barnardos was pleased to see the extension of the school meals programme to some non-DEIS schools in budget 2017. We are awaiting further information on this measure but it is to be welcomed because we know that over 55% of children from disadvantaged areas do not attend a DEIS school.
Barnardos is keen to highlight a number of public services that we believe are crucial to improving the lives of all children, especially those from lone-parent households. Quality affordable child care and after-school care are crucial in this regard. As mentioned already, this sector received a much-needed boost, but it should only be seen as a stepping stone toward the roll out of a comprehensive quality subsidised model of child care and after-school care. Without this, there can be no expectation on lone parents to take up full-time work since, understandably, their caring duties will take priority. Barnardos particularly welcomed the universal aspect of the child care proposals announced in budget 2017 because the measure finally recognises the value of early years care and education on a child's development, as opposed to simply facilitating the return to work of parents.
We know that the first three years of a child's life are crucial in determining future outcomes. Investment in quality child care improves a child's social and emotional development and enhances school readiness, which, in turn, improves long-term outcomes and generates Exchequer savings in future. However, continued investment in this area is required to keep Ireland apace with other European countries, which spend on average 0.8% of GDP on this sector whereas we spend approximately 0.3% by comparison. Ensuring high-quality provision throughout the sector, the regulation of child minders and the development of a comprehensive out-of-school care system are needed to guarantee improved outcomes for children and support for lone parents.
Timely family support is another key recommendation from Barnardos because we all know that parents struggle at different times, some more than others. Some can rely on family and friends to assist them through these times but others need more intensive targeted support. Evaluations of effective parenting supports show clear benefits to families in addressing issues and preventing problems escalating. Barnardos has always been a strong advocate of prevention and early intervention approaches and believes investment in key supports such as the ABC programmes, Tusla family support workers and other programmes, such as Triple P or the partnership with parents that we run, should be beefed up.
Childhood is time limited so any delay in accessing appropriate supports, for example, in the education system or health supports, can seriously impede the child’s development and is a significant stressor on family life particularly for lone parents who are on their own. Barnardos works with many families whose children are languishing on lengthy waiting lists to get either assessed or treated for a range of issues spanning speech and language, mental health supports or educational supports. We also work with families living in hotels or in overcrowded situations who are desperately trying to secure alternative accommodation that is simply not there. There are no simple solutions for child poverty. Every family is different and accordingly diverse solutions are required. Only through a combination of adequate income supports and accessible quality public services will children’s lives improve and the cycles of intergenerational poverty that are so prevalent among lone parent families be broken.