Single-parent families resorting to moneylenders

Recession-hit one-parent families are turning to "legal and illegal" money lenders to survive; live with the fear of going hungry at some stage every week — and are barely able to pay heating bills, or afford children’s clothes.

The situation has been graphically outlined in a detailed new St Vincent de Paul report on single-parent families who have been affected by the recession.

According to the document, which can be read in full at www.svp/oneparentfamilies, and is based on the experiences of 61 families known to the charity, there are currently 215,315 one-parent families in Ireland.

About 42.5% of the parents are at work, 29.1% are at risk of poverty, 17.4% are experiencing “consistent” poverty, but almost half suffer long-term deprivation.

St Vincent de Paul social justice official, Liz Kerrins, said despite claims one-parent families were being adequately supported by the State, the vast majority were struggling to pay for basic essentials on a daily basis.

She said that an unspecified number were “unfortunately resorting to both legal and illegal moneylenders with high interest rates” to have enough funds to survive.

Others, Ms Kerrins noted, were struggling to afford clothes for their children, living on the “assumption they will go hungry at some stage every week” in order to ensure there was enough food for their kids, and “start dreading” Christmas early in the year because it is a luxury they cannot afford.

In addition, she said, a significant majority of one-parent family households were facing further bills due to legal battles with their former partner or spouse.

“This is the day-to-day, week-to-week experience of many one-parent families,” said SVP head of social justice and policy, John Mark McCafferty.

“They come to us principally because we are their last option: they’ve used every other option and they’re coming to us often in emergency situations.

“They are genuinely struggling when it comes to the energy bill, trying to buy healthy food, trying to pay for various things associated with schoolgoing children — and often life shocks, income shocks that happen and nobody can predict,” he said.

Noting comments from President Michael D Higgins about the need to examine alternative workable economic options that take account of these issues, he said the plight of struggling one-parent families showed “why it’s so important to have this conversation about vision, values, ethics; we do not want to make the same mistakes again”.

Among the 39 policy reforms SVP has asked the Government to consider to help one-parent families, are an increase in child income supports and adult social welfare rates, along with tax and part-time work changes focused on low-income family needs.

Other options include reversing the decision to remove the full medical card from lone parents returning to employment and for the Government’s Better Outcomes Brighter Futures 2014-2020 report to have a specific focus on children growing up in poverty.