Europa (02.08.2019) The European Platform for Investing in Children (EPIC) has published a policy memo on mechanisms supporting single parents.
he memo presents trends and risks for single parents across the European Union and provides an overview of existing mechanisms supporting single parents.
Single parents and their children are at high risk of poverty
According to Eurostat data, in 2017, single parents with dependent children recorded the highest risk of poverty or social exclusion among all household types.
The last few decades have seen an increase in the share of single-parent families. However, single-parent families are very diverse in terms of socio-economic background and living arrangements, making it difficult to design and implement target policies to support them.
This policy memo provides an introduction to recent trends in single parenthood and the risks faced by single parents, before outlining existing policies and practices that support single-parent families across the EU. These mechanisms are presented in two categories: policies that provide social assistance and those that facilitate single parents’ access to the labour market. This memo also highlights examples of practices from Member States.
The target audience for this memo is policymakers and organisations providing support to single-parents.
EPIC supports Member States to invest in children
The memo is part of a series of short policy memos focusing on topics relevant to child welfare aimed at policymakers, researchers and practitioners. Previous policy memos have focused on the provision of paternity and parental leave across the EU and practices to support family-friendly workplaces.
EPIC also publishes a wide range of content focused on supporting child wellbeing. This includes country profiles which provide an overview of measures taken in each Member State to support investment in children, and a collection of innovative and evidence-based practices.