Single parenthood: policy apartheid in Canada

Policy discussions regarding single parents often move to income maintenance issues. While the risk of poverty for single mothers with dependent children is high, attention devoted largely to the policy challenges of income maintenance for single mothers may have two unfortunate consequences. First, policy-makers and the public may become oblivious or impatient with the neediness of single mothers. Second, preoccupation with income maintenance might preclude attention to the many other policy considerations that impinge, directly and indirectly, on single mothers. This chapter provides a thematic look at the conundrum of social policies, broadly defined, that relate to single parents in Canada. The focus is on links, interconnections, and problems that might otherwise be invisible.