Living on social assistance is very hard for a lone mother especially when the other parent is not in the picture…
Many single parents (mainly women) with young children find it very difficult to work, not because they do not want to but because they find it impossible to work without any family support. Free childcare, and Klabb 3–16 seem to be touted as the solution to all women’s problems. Whilst these services greatly help many parents especially two parent families, however for those lone parents with multiple children, or children with special needs free childcare, and other such services are all useless when your children get sick and you have nobody but yourself to look after them. It is impossible to work with 2 or 3 young children close in age unless you either have very flexible working conditions or support at home when your children get sick. Any mother with young children will agree that this is very common issue since most children end up being at home more than at school in those first early years.
Without a proper support system, either from the other parent or from family or relatives or from considerate and kind employers it becomes practically impossible for lone parents with young children to work full time. Being unable to work many women especially end up having to resort to living on social assistance.
Living on social assistance is very hard for a lone mother especially when the other parent is not in the picture. It is both physically and mentally exhausting, struggling daily to try to make ends meet. Yet many seem to think that people living on social assistance have it easy. People who have never had to struggle to survive alone imagine that lone parents get help in every way from the government. Yes, there are certain subsidies on rent, energy bills, social assistance (maximum of 108.92 euro per week) and children’s allowance, so few cases manage to also get social housing. Getting help through these schemes is not as easy as one thinks or imagines. There are numerous forms to fill and these are reviewed every six months, if there are any suspicions that one’s circumstances have changed they may stop social assistance and children’s allowance and these then take weeks to be reinstated, sometimes leaving mothers with young children desperate and without any income.
Many lone mothers with children end up barely being able to survive from month to month and if faced with unexpected expenses such as a fridge repair or needing to replace a washing machine they just do not replace it for months in the hope that they might find a kind soul or NGO to help them.
When it comes to home maintenance, people surviving on social assistance once again face incredible hurdles. Dripping roofs, broken unsafe balconies, bathrooms that need the plumbing restored, water heaters, are all basic necessities that many find very difficult to maintain. Once again the government has certain schemes that are meant to help however despite being a helping hand, and greatly appreciated, money upfront is required to be able to benefit from this scheme. This is hardly ever possible, considering those who need these benefits are already very hard up and trying to survive from social assistance cheque to pay cheque. The Housing Authority issues payments only after and upon presentation of fiscal receipts by applicants for the works after they have actually been carried out, and only after the Authority ascertains that the works have been done in full and as approved and all conditions have been observed. This of course is useless for people who can barely survive and have no savings, some people on social assistance do not even have bank accounts. One might ask if people actually have 5,000 euro available to pay for the repairs upfront why would they need to claim them back from the government?
One parent who has raised four children on social assistance had this to say about this issue…
“I know how difficult it all is, I speak from experience a few years back, I was in desperate need to change my bathroom. It had broken tiles, cracked sink and bath and had some water leakages which made the whole room so mouldy that it had become a health hazard for all of us (photos attached). I was even admitted to hospital with lung problems because of the mould. I did apply for the housing authority scheme and my application had been accepted. I was allocated a sum of money to cover most of the expenses if all works were finished in the stipulated time frames. I did try to have a good look around and contacted all the bathroom suppliers, but no company would accept to provide me with the works and material and get paid when the job is done. I had to give up, and had no other way to go around it, nobody would even loan me the money. Hearing my children cough for months on end was so heart breaking – I had to seek help one way or another. Finally, I took some pictures however ashamed I was and sent them to the admins of two popular Facebook groups which I trusted and that I know help many people, in the hope that they could help me at least get rid of all the mould that was making me and my children all sick.
Anonymous Single Mother
Ilona Busby from Malta Charity Central and Francesca Fenech Conti from Women for Women came to my rescue and within months they not only helped me get rid of the mould but provided me with a new bathroom, which changed our lives. There are no words to express my gratitude for all those involved, I will forever be grateful. Their hearts of gold and their non-judgemental approach changed our lives.
Having said all this, I really wish changes will be made to these government schemes and grants because it’s useless having schemes in place for the neediest on the one hand, then on the other hand they can’t benefit from them because of the financial issues that made them apply for the schemes in the first place! I do understand that the government can’t just fork out the money without ensuring that the money is used for the actual repairs but maybe the scheme can be tweaked whereby inspections are made before and in collaboration with Housing Authority approved suppliers, approved suppliers would then invoice the Housing Authority directly. Only then will these schemes and grants be able to serve their true purpose.”
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Are you a single mother on social assistance experiencing similar situations? Share your experience with us at wham…contact us or send us an email at [email protected]
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Francesca Fenech Conti is passionate about social issues and has a BA in Social Policy. She is the Founder and creator of the women only facebook group Women for Women (Malta) and the Women for Women Foundation that works hand in hand with other NGOs and businesses to empower and support women, especially single mothers.
Francesca recently also launched Wham.com.mt to provide a much needed space on the local media scene to promote women’s voices and to provide women with a source of information regarding their general wellbeing.
Click here to check out Francesca’s full bio as well as a list of all her Wham published articles
