Callout for focus group participants Seeking young people aged 15 – 22 who is growing up or has lived in a single mother household Attendance at 1 of 10 sessions each up to 2.5 hours long – in-person and online participation options available Participants with be financially remunerated for their time Must be available last two weeks of June 2024 Victoria only The research: The Youth Advocacy Project aims to identify any gaps between support available to young people either online or in community and the needs specific to young people growing up, or who have spent time growing up, in a singl ..read more

Anyone who caught the news this week knows all the top stories were about Budgets – first the Victorian Budget was handed down, then the Federal Budget. Every Budget covers a broad range of issues, and every Budget is followed by many interviews with experts and interest groups – it’s like a fiscal tsunami. Both the state and federal Budgets contained items that will benefit some single mother families. We’ve made it easy for you by pulling out the topline items that impact single mothers. Victorian Budget 2024-2025 Given the pandemic-related debt the State now finds itself with, this Budget w ..read more

This week, two pieces of legislation were passed by the Federal Government: The Family Law Amendment Act 2023 and Family Law Amendment (Information Sharing) Act 2023. The changes include new laws about how the Courts will make parenting orders in the best interests of a child. Here’s what the changes are, when they come into effect, and how it will impact single mothers going through the Court system. Family Law Amendment Act 2023 These changes relate to parenting matters and will not affect financial only proceedings. The legislation sets out new laws about: what&nbs ..read more

We’re celebrating International Single Parents day by launching our Wall of Honour to pay tribute to all the amazing single mothers we know and have known! Congratulations to all the mums who have been nominated – you can read the tributes, in alphabetical order, below. There’s a lot of love and inspiration on this wall! Know a single mother who deserves to be on the Single Mother Wall of Honour? It’s not too late to nominate a deserving single mum – check out the details here. The Wall will be here until Mothers Day 2024, and we’ll add tributes as they come in. CSMC Single Mother Wall of Hono ..read more

There are a few places left in our Bloom Careers, Work and Wellbeing program for the Northern Metro area – but they are filling fast! Bloom is an eight week online mentoring program to help you define your career, work or training needs in just a few hours per fortnight. If you would like this free, specialist, single mother supported assistance and you’re located in Banyule, Whittlesea, Darebin, Yarra and Nillumbik (northeast metro), contact Erika now on 0423189340 or email Erika at bloom@csmc.org.au. Details Program Dates: Term 2 Week of 1 May- 24 June 2024 Duration: Eight weeks of less than ..read more

In many respects, a career is a mindset. It is how we view the work we do, where we want to go with it, and what we want from it. Traditionally, a career was something you decided on early in life, which was set for life. Today, economic changes, the ability to work remotely, advances in technology and AI, careers and the nature of the work we do are much more changeable, even for those who trained for many years for their professions. People are known to have up to seven careers and maybe 10-12 jobs in their lifetime, so it’s not uncommon to see a zigzag career path on a resume these days. Ad ..read more

At the moment, housing is dominating so many discussions in the media, in Parliament, and around water coolers and school gates across the country. The fact is, though, CSMC has long advocated for single mother families in a number of housing related areas, most notably, renters’ rights and purchasing conditions. With rental affordability and availability at crisis point, our work in this area is stepping up. Here’s a snapshot of the work we are doing for single mother families in rental accommodation, and how you can contribute. Firstly, a win! The Victorian Government has announced a taskfor ..read more

It’s outdated, hopelessly flawed, and it has not kept pace with inflation. Now, the Federal Government is currently reviewing the country’s child support system, and as many single mothers will attest, there’s a lot that needs to be changed. Fixing the broken child support system has been a campaign that CSMC has been fighting for longer than most of us can remember. To begin with, the method of calculation, is ridiculously outdated, not taking into account things like the cost of childcare, laptops and school uniforms, and medical expenses. And with 84 per cent of people who pay child support ..read more

We’re celebrating International Single Parents day by launching our Wall of Honour to pay tribute to all the amazing single mothers we know and have known! Congratulations to all the mums who have been nominated – you can read the tributes, in alphabetical order, below. There’s a lot of love and inspiration on this wall! Know a single mother who deserves to be on the Single Mother Wall of Honour? It’s not too late to nominate a deserving single mum – check out the details here. The Wall will be here until Mothers Day 2024, and we’ll add tributes as they come in. CSMC Single Mother Wall of Hono ..read more

On Sunday 3 March, Brenda Richards, one of CSMC’s founding members and inaugural Treasurer, died at the age of 85. Brenda’s work in the late 1960s campaigning for the rights of ‘unwed mothers’ and their children set the course for a remarkable life of public service that changed the way government and the community viewed and treated women and families. Brenda met fellow CSMC founder Rosemary West at the unmarried mothers branch of Parents Without Partners (PWP), and it soon became apparent to both women that their goals were quite different to those of PWP. Their focus wasn’t on re-partnering ..read more