Sir, – We the undersigned, over 30 of whom are experienced international academics and social scientists, call on the Government to delay the passing of the Social Welfare Bill which will reduce the age of child support for those parenting alone to seven years of age. This is being introduced without due consideration of its impact.
Since a similar provision was introduced in the United States under the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act, 1996 (known as the Welfare Reform Act) the effects on poorer women and children have been quite devastating. The work of eminent and independent scholars, such as Prof Dodson of Boston College, shows that, with no proper child care supports, low-income one-parent families are left with an option of either living with their children in poverty or taking up paid work and neglecting their very young children.
The most recent report prepared by Prof Dodson based on a two-year study of lone parent and poor women living on limited welfare or working for low pay (for Harvard University Radcliffe Public Policy Centre, 2012) found that there was “intractable conflict for poor people trying to care for kids while succeeding on the job. It has taken a huge toll not only on low-income women, but also on their children”.
To force low-income lone parent families to choose between poverty and the welfare of their children is both anti-care and anti-family. It also shows scant regard for the limited Irish evidence that already exists from the Survey of Income and Living Conditions data (2010) showing that the levels of poverty and deprivation in one-parent families have risen significantly since the recession: The SILC study found that, in 2010, half of one-parent families had to go without essentials such as adequate heating for the home, substantial meals, clothing and footwear because they were unable to afford them
The proposed reduction of income will further penalise the poorest children in the Irish State, 65 per cent of whom live in one-parent families
We urge the Government not to ignore the all-party Oireachtas Committee on the Single Working Age Payment. It recommended that no reform of social welfare policy should take place until childcare and other supports were ready. They acknowledged that Budget 2012 reform measures for lone parents were severe; they noted the importance of retaining part-time options and job activation measures such as income disregard. They recommended that the income disregard measure (which had always been seen as a labour activation measure) suffer no further reductions.
We call on the Government not to proceed with this anti-child and anti-family legislation. Research to date suggests that the long-term impact of this type of reform is overwhelmingly negative. Forcing poor women and men to give up work or live on very limited welfare further impoverishes both themselves and their children. – Yours, etc,