Statistics: According with the data of the Romanian National Institute of Statistics, the monoparental households in Romania numbers 6.9% of the households total.
In Ocna community the percent is 6.1, but 89% of them are living under the poverty line and 46.42% need urgent support.
FACTS
The Romanian economy is rapidly changing, and these changes affect various groups of population. In the past years the economy has deteriorated, wages have declined, unemployment has increased, and social welfare policies have been dissolved or cut back. Low purchasing power, high cost of basic goods and medicines, low incomes are some of the causes of increasing poverty.
Poverty increases for all family types (especially pensioners), but households with single parents are among the poorest, having the highest poverty rates among Romanian households. This is due to lesser labor market opportunities for women, the lack of a second provider and low earning capacity of single women with children, the inadequate level of support from the non-custodial fathers as well as to the low level of government support and benefits for single-mother families (Child allowances and separate allowances for female-headed households are not covering the basic needs).
The single-parent population is large and growing rapidly in Romania. This dramatic growth is caused mainly by:
- divorce
- high adult male mortality rate
- non-marital childbearing
- the excess female population
INITIATIVE
As a response to this situation, we are developing a project to support this part of the population which lives below the poverty line in Romania and is more likely to be persistently poor than other categories.
We are focusing on the area of Ocna Sibiului, a small town where we are conducting several projects. As a result of the co-operation between our organization and the local authorities, the social department of the district council offered us all the information we need about the situation of monoparental households in the area.
From the 56 single parents (93 children) we have selected 19 single parents (30 children)* that are confronted with a crisis situation and who need urgent support.
*Our data contains only two single-father family, the rest of single-parent families are mother-only.
GOAL
The goal of this project is to help the poorest single parents within this community to survive, and to help them become self-sufficient in the future.
This is a long term project, and we shall continue to offer this support to the single mothers until they will either become self sufficient or the government will apply a better program of social protection.
We shall periodically analyze the situation of the single parents in this community in order to include in this project new single parents which demand urgent help and to withdraw the ones which became self-sufficient.
OBJECTIVES
- to provide material support (food, hygienic and school supplies, clothing, medicines, optical glasses);
- to prevent the abandonment and institutionalization of children from this target group;
- to prevent and reduce school abandonment;
- to offer summer camps for the children (Special Projects);
- to provide emotional support through visits of Response employees and volunteers.
Part of our effort to bring families successfully through the project into self-sufficiency we shall evaluate and develop a specific plan for each case. We shall organize or pay (through Special Projects) for training courses and educational programs (according with the educational level of the participant and with the demand on the labor market) and we shall offer budget and job counseling for each single parent.
CONCLUSION
As a result of the support offered by Response foundation, the living conditions of 19 monoparental households will be significantly improved:
- diversified and improved daily diet;
- better access to medication and medical care;
- decreased risk of child abandonment;
- reduced chance to school abandonment;
- better chances to overcome social and economical hardships;
- most efficient ways of spending family income;
- better chances to find a job.
FACTS
The Romanian economy is rapidly changing, and these changes affect various groups of population. In the past years the economy has deteriorated, wages have declined, unemployment has increased, and social welfare policies have been dissolved or cut back. Low purchasing power, high cost of basic goods and medicines, low incomes are some of the causes of increasing poverty.
Poverty increases for all family types (especially pensioners), but households with single parents are among the poorest, having the highest poverty rates among Romanian households. This is due to lesser labor market opportunities for women, the lack of a second provider and low earning capacity of single women with children, the inadequate level of support from the non-custodial fathers as well as to the low level of government support and benefits for single-mother families (Child allowances and separate allowances for female-headed households are not covering the basic needs).
The single-parent population is large and growing rapidly in Romania. This dramatic growth is caused mainly by:
- divorce
- high adult male mortality rate
- non-marital childbearing
- the excess female population
INITIATIVE
As a response to this situation, we are developing a project to support this part of the population which lives below the poverty line in Romania and is more likely to be persistently poor than other categories.
We are focusing on the area of Ocna Sibiului, a small town where we are conducting several projects. As a result of the co-operation between our organization and the local authorities, the social department of the district council offered us all the information we need about the situation of monoparental households in the area.
From the 56 single parents (93 children) we have selected 19 single parents (30 children)* that are confronted with a crisis situation and who need urgent support.
*Our data contains only two single-father family, the rest of single-parent families are mother-only.
GOAL
The goal of this project is to help the poorest single parents within this community to survive, and to help them become self-sufficient in the future.
This is a long term project, and we shall continue to offer this support to the single mothers until they will either become self sufficient or the government will apply a better program of social protection.
We shall periodically analyze the situation of the single parents in this community in order to include in this project new single parents which demand urgent help and to withdraw the ones which became self-sufficient.
OBJECTIVES
- to provide material support (food, hygienic and school supplies, clothing, medicines, optical glasses);
- to prevent the abandonment and institutionalization of children from this target group;
- to prevent and reduce school abandonment;
- to offer summer camps for the children (Special Projects);
- to provide emotional support through visits of Response employees and volunteers.
Part of our effort to bring families successfully through the project into self-sufficiency we shall evaluate and develop a specific plan for each case. We shall organize or pay (through Special Projects) for training courses and educational programs (according with the educational level of the participant and with the demand on the labor market) and we shall offer budget and job counseling for each single parent.
CONCLUSION
As a result of the support offered by Response foundation, the living conditions of 19 monoparental households will be significantly improved:
- diversified and improved daily diet;
- better access to medication and medical care;
- decreased risk of child abandonment;
- reduced chance to school abandonment;
- better chances to overcome social and economical hardships;
- most efficient ways of spending family income;
- better chances to find a job.
