Supporting Lone Parents and Their Children in Europe

Key messages:

• Lone parenthood should always be defined in a way that all types of lone parents are included, regardless of their partnership status and the support provided by the other parent. 
• Research infrastructures creating longitudinal data with detailed information on family trajectories should be further supported and promoted. This is necessary to identify whether and at which stage of the life course individuals enter into lone parenthood and eventually leave it, as well as how this phase is experienced and its consequences for individuals and their children.
• Policies should provide universal social benefits for disadvantaged persons and families in general. Targeted policies may also be needed as a way to support lone parent families in their specific needs.
• If states fully support gender equality, then they are also supporting lone parents overcoming their key challenges. This can be concretely done for example by offering childcare benefits, well-paid parental leave and care credits in pension systems to all parents, and by creating measures to effectively reduce class inequalities, particularly by tackling female disadvantages on the labour market. The approval of the EU Work Life Balance Directive would constitute an important step forward in this direction.

References:

• Bernardi, L. and Mortelmans, D. (eds) (in press): Lone Parenthood in the Life Course. Cham: Springer Open.
• Bernardi, F., Ermisch, J., Gauthier, A. & J. Härkönen (2014): Boosting Children’s Lifetime Chances in Times of Diverse Family Forms. Policy Brief 07/2014, Berlin: Max Planck Society/Population Europe.
• Bradshaw, J., Keung, A. & Y. Chzhen (2018): Cash Benefits and Poverty in Single-Parent Families. In: R. Nieuwenhuis & L. Maldonado (Eds): “The Triple Bind of Single-Parent Families. Resources, Employment and Policies to Improve Well-being.” Bristol: Policy Press: University of Bristol: 337-358.
• Brady, D., Finnigan, R., & S. Hübgen (2018): Single Mothers Are Not the Problem. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/10/opinion/sunday/single-mothers-poverty.html.
• Maldonado, L. (2018): Doing Better for Single-Parent Families, the US Compared to 45 Countries. Newsletter 2018-5 (March): Inequality Matters. Luxemburg: Cross-National Data Center in Luxemburg (LIS).
• EUROSTAT (2016): Statistics Explained: Children at Risk of Poverty or Social Exclusion. Retrieved from www.eurostat.eu.