Single Parents Week 2024: Recognition
28/03/2024
Our Chief Executive Satwat Rehman, reflects on Single Parents Week 2024.
Single parent families often find themselves overlooked or misunderstood within broader society. This is why Single Parents Day, on the 21st of March, is an important opportunity to celebrate the strength and love offered by so many single parents for their children and to challenge the stigma which is unfairly faced by single parent families today. The theme for Single Parents Day this year was ‘recognition’, which allowed us to recognise single parents and all they do, as well as recognising the need for wider supports and structural change to improve the lives of single parent families.
We are thrilled to see Single Parents Day gaining more traction and prominence every year, offering OPFS and other single parent focused organisations across the UK and Ireland a platform to celebrate the strength and resilience of single parent families and to shed light on the many issues and obstacles faced by single parents today.
- Single parent, Lanarkshire
Single Parents Day 2024 was particularly gratifying as we had the privilege of receiving video messages acknowledging single parents from the First Minister, Humza Yousaf, as well as from leaders from across the Scottish political spectrum. Single parents day was also officially recognised by the City of Edinburgh Council for the first time this year, and we were delighted to have been invited by the Lord Provost of Edinburgh to speak about the specific challenges facing single parents in Edinburgh prior to full council meeting.
It was also wonderful to have been invited along with a group of Edinburgh based single parents to attend a lunch at the City Chambers and have the opportunity to speak with the Lord Provost and Edinburgh city councillors. One of the standout moments during Single Parents Week was witnessing the active involvement of parents and partners in the open days and workshops organised by various local service providers. As we celebrate our 80th anniversary this year, single parents day will be the first of many opportunities to honour and amplify the voices of single parents across Scotland.
