It's been a busy and exciting month
at One Family HQ in Cherish House. Our Graduation ceremony in Dublin Castle took place last Thursday. It was an inspiring celebration of the achievements, often against extreme odds, of almost 100 parents graduating One Family programmes. Summer School in July offers more training opportunities with short workshops easily accessible to working parents. In other training news, our Director of Professional Development, Paula Lonergan, has been invited to train a group of Portuguese Family Support experts at the University of Porto next week. This is the third international delivery of our accredited professional development programmes.
Also last week we submitted our Pre-Budget Submission, crafted in collaboration with a panel of people who parent alone or share parenting, and highlighting the voices of a diversity of parents. And on Saturday, we were honoured to be guests at the President's Family Day Garden Party and to present President Higgins with a series of framed photographs from our Family Day Festival.
We held our first live askonefamily Facebook Q&A this month about the drastic upcoming changes to the One-Parent Family Payment. This was an added service to help respond to parents's questions in addition to our site askonefamily information hub and lo-call helpline. Over 500 people engaged directly with the live Q&A over the space of an hour, demonstrating the confusion and concern so many lone parents are experiencing. This month has brought other challenges and sadness as the experiences of so many in Mother and Baby Homes over the decades was vividly revealed. Our founding as Cherish in 1972 was in that climate of rejection, shame and judgment towards 'unmarried mothers'. We issued this Statement and also submitted our recommendations to the Commission of Investigation. Sadly, our clients often tell us that shame and stigma towards lone parents still exists and our monthly survey for July is on this topic.
Read on for more on the above and other One Family news.
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Graduation
Many of this year's Graduants completed One Family’s flagship New Futures training which is FETAC Level 4 accredited. Others completed the One Family parenting programmes Family Communications and Positive Parenting. We were also delighted to acknowledge those companies and individuals who have supported our work, such as our Toy Appeal, Family Day Festival and helpline, at the ceremony in Dublin Castle and parents who completed the courses shared their experiences in their own own words, inspiring us all with their bravery and humour. Click here to view a selection of beautiful photos. |
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Pre-Budget Submission
The overarching message of our Pre-Budget Submission 2015 is that all people share in Ireland and we must believe that government has a responsibility to help people develop their strengths and their potential. We must look to long-term programmes to empower our communities, rather than short-term patches. The One Family Budget Panel, which consists of twelve men and women from across the country parenting in a diversity of circumstances, worked with us to craft it. We also include direct quotes from respondents to our surveys and other initiatives to reflect the lived reality for one-parent families in Ireland.
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The Monthly Survey
Our Budget 2015 Panel - twelve lone parents and/or parents sharing parenting who are collaborating with us on our budget submission - discuss a different topic every month including housing, childcare and the importance of after school care, tax credits, in work incentives and educational supports for people parenting alone.
You can be part of the discussion too by taking our anonymous 3 question survey. This month's survey is on Lone Parents and Shame. You can take it by clicking here now. To read what you told us last month about engagement with the Local Elections, click here.
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Summer School
Throughout July, we will be offering an interesting series of four workshops for parents. These are: Happy Home, Happy Child - Understanding Behaviour and Dealing with Challenges on 10 July; Making Shared Parenting Work - Communication and Resolving Conflict on 17 July; How to Deal with the Impacts of Separation on Parents and Children on 24 July; and Parenting Teens - Understanding How We Parent to Increase Happiness on 31 July. All workshops will take place in Cherish House, Dublin 2 from 10am-1pm and are exceptional value at just €15 unwaged / €25 waged. Book now by emailing info@onefamily or calling 01 662 9212.
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And Time to Play!
It's important for parents to have a social outlet to help combat isolation and loneliness, and to keep self-esteem high though finding the finances and/or someone to babysit means that this is often impossible for many parents. That is why the One Family Social Group is a great option. You can interact with other parents while your children are having fun. Social Group outings take place throughout July and August to destinations including Newbridge Farm, Tayto Park, Donadea Forest and Dublin Zoo. As we negotiate special rates, costs for venues with admission fees will range from only €5 to €10 per family. Contact us to find out more.
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