Single Parent Outreach

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Single Parent Possibilities

Juggling jobs, family, and household duties as a single parent is very arduous and exhausting. It can be stressful for both the parent and the children living in the home. Going from a two-parent family to a one-parent family is a challenge with unrealistic expectations of still functioning as a two-parent family. A single parent feels overwhelmed and exhausted at having to keep up with all the responsibilities themselves. They must do the work of two as they adjust to juggling a job or jobs, paying bills, household chores, childcare, helping with homework, and maintaining a home and yard. Family finances are remarkably lowered with the absence of one parent in the home and bearing the expense becomes burdensome. …show more content…

“Approximately 21 million children – or about 28 percent of children in the United States – lived with one parent in 2012” (Vespa). Furthermore, a single parent’s social life suffers as they are no longer a part of a couple and do not fit in with their couple friends. They must find new single people to socialize with. The Single Parent Outreach (SPO) sees specific needs single men and women have and reaches out to their specific needs. The SOP is a committee run by single parents in the community, both men and women alike, in the community who know the needs of others around them. The SPO offers services for both immediate needs as well as ongoing needs of single parenthood. One of the immediate needs extended is help with housing and setting a home up with appliances and furniture needed. Additionally, the SPO offers an educational course to teach finance and budgeting, as well as offering a co-op for an exchange of services for …show more content…

These classes offer single parents financial education and budget planning. The SMO hosts finance classes that meet once a week for 10 weeks and provide newly single parents opportunity to learn to adjust to a one-person income. Areas discussed are planning a budget, parents are taught basic budgeting principles as a group, then meet with a planner one on one to create a personalized budget that meets their needs and abilities. They are also taught how to bargain shop and discuss a debt repayment plan. Learning to live on a single, usually low income, can be a struggle and the SMO helps guide parents through a transition time with education and

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