Support Scheme for Single Parents Launched, 230 People Apply in First Week

Bratislava, 9 February (TASR) - A two-year pilot project fully financed from EU funds was launched at the beginning of February to assist single parents and sole providers, with 230 people applying for aid in the first week, Labour, Social Affairs and the Family Minister Erik Tomas (Voice-SD) told a press conference on Monday. The ministry's partners in the project include several NGOs and the Work and Family Research Institute. Tomas noted that the know-how of NGOs specialising in this area has been incorporated into the system and that single parents need to apply for the scheme on their own initiative. "We want to see that they're interested in this aid themselves. In order to prevent any speculation or abuse of this scheme, we'll carry out further verification of single parents," said the minister. After signing up, the applicants will be included in the scheme as of the following month. Incomplete families are among the most vulnerable groups of the population in terms of poverty and social exclusion. According to the Statistics Office, there are approximately 180,000 such families with dependent children in Slovakia. "This number has been further defined by the European statistical survey, the so-called EU SILC, which has stated that we have around 31,000 actual single-parent households. These are households that no longer have anyone else living with them, not even a grandmother, grandfather or other relatives or close people," said Tomas. Nearly 38 percent of such households are at risk of poverty or social exclusion, which is why this population group requires concentrated and specialised assistance, said Tomas. jrg/df