SINGLE parents in the UK have won a new ambassador, in the form of Harry Potter author JK Rowling.
Ms Rowling, who has donated £500,000 of her newly-earned fortune to the National Council for One Parent Families, has also agreed to become an ambassador for the charity.
Ms Rowling said at the launch: “Six out of ten families headed by a single parent are living in poverty. None of the single parents I know wants to live on handouts; just like parents living in couples we want the chance to provide properly for our own children. As I found out the hard way, however, we generally have to work twice as hard to get half as far. If I experienced feelings of utter worthlessness during interviews with the CSA and the Benefit Office, how many other parents are going through the same experience now?
“Single-parenthood is not all stress and hardship. My flesh and blood daughter is the best thing that ever happened to me, including my fictional son. Jessica has been a constant source of pride, joy and motivation since the day she was born, so I don’t want her to grow up in a society that tells her that her upbringing is second rate, nor do I want her to grow up in a society where children just like her are trapped in poverty because they have had the
misfortune to see their parents have split up.
“It’s also time we exploded the popular myth that most lone parents are feckless teenagers trying to get council flats. Only three per cent of us are teenagers; 60 per cent of us have been married and are now separated, divorced or bereaved. I’d like to see widespread
acceptance of the fact that families simply come in many shapes and sizes. Mine may be the smallest variety you can get, but we are as much a family as the Waltons.”
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