THREAD/ Some ill-informed voices have reacted to the excellent news about free school meals in the holidays - and the efforts of @MarcusRashford to get the UK Government to rethink its approach to child poverty - by asking “why did you have kids if you couldn’t pay for them”?

Attitudes like this fuel misinformed stigma for many single parents, an issue raised time & again by parents we support. This fails to take in to account the obvious, that circumstances change: in relationships, in employment, in the economy. This is what the ‘safety net’ is for.

On March 21 (which seems a lifetime ago) we marked Single Parents Day along with our friends at @Gingerbread, @1familyireland & @ParentingNI. The aim was to flip the script and replace stigma with celebration.

Our head of policy Marion Davis wrote this: https://sourcenews.scot/marion-davis-for-single-parents-challenging-stigma-is-life-changing

Marion explains in this article exactly why we see challenging stigma and changing policy as going in hand-in-hand: the former is often used to excuse doing nothing on the latter (or worse, for introducing policies which are directly harmful).

https://sourcenews.scot/marion-davis-for-single-parents-challenging-stigma-is-life-changing/

It’s encouraging to see steps taken by governments to help families struggling in the face of the pandemic. This should be a lesson on how unexpected circumstances can arise which mean we need a bit of support - and on the kind of society we can and should be when that happens.

Instead of asking why families aren’t able to see into the future and plan for every possible outcome, let’s ask why we would ever hesitate to do everything that can be done to ensure no child will have to live in poverty - no matter how their parents’ circumstances might change.