Author Description

The key themes that emerged during the interviews with the participants and the focus group discussions with social service providers include the experience of impoverishment and the resulting struggle for survival. [...] Implementing the policies suggested above would be one step towards reducing the precarious and vulnerable situation for virtually all of the lone mothers who participated in the study, and to supporting better futures for the children in their care. [...] Subsequent interviews invited participants to respond to the prompt "What has changed since the last interview?" The recruitment of the mothers was based on those that responded to posters placed in the northeast neighbourhood of Vancouver. [...] The youngest child was under three years old in half the families at the start of the study and between 3 and 6 in the other half.11 The research focused on women with children in this age group to learn how their lives and those of their children were affected when their situation changed from being allowed to stay home full-time to being expected to find a job. [...] The data from the Ministry also shows that the number of single parents receiving income assistance continued to decrease through 2007 although there appears to be a slight increase in the number of cases in the Expected to Work (ETW) category over the first five months of 2008.