Paloncyová, Jana – Barvíková, Jana – Höhne, Sylva – Kuchařová, Věra
Neúplné rodiny /Incomplete families
Prague: RILSA, 2019. 216 pp., ISBN 978-80-7416-357-9
The monograph summarises current knowledge and provides new information on the lives of single parents in the Czech Republic. According to the results of the latest housing census (2011), one in four families at this time was incomplete, involving a total number of dependent children of approximately 405,000. In terms of living standards, single-parent families have long been amongst the most vulnerable in society.
Research based on both quantitative and qualitative methodology has indicated that single-parent families originate to almost the same degree via the divorce of married couples and the splitting of unmarried relationships. However, with respect to around every eighth family, the parents of the youngest child have never co-habited. Children in the families under investigation are predominantly in the care of the mother, with only every tenth child living mainly with the father; the same proportion applies to children who alternate between their parents on a half and half basis. It is worrying to consider that of the whole group of dependent children, every fourth child never meets with his/her second parent and approximately one fifth do not receive maintenance payments. The reasons vary from agreements between parents to the reluctance/ unwillingness of the responsible parent. Single parents very often receive assistance from their parents, with emotional and moral support being sought preferably from friends. Single parents receive no more assistance from the state than other families and single parents often opine that family policy measures should be aimed at helping them reconcile family and work responsibilities, reducing the cost of childcare and ensuring the conditions that allow single parents, in particular, to have sufficient time for socialising, relaxing and developing family activities.
The study forms one of the outputs of the medium-term Comprehensive Research on the Situation of Families and Seniors (2018-2022) project involving the ongoing monitoring of various types of family units.
only in Czech: