LMP to submit proposal on support for single-parent families

Green opposition party LMP will submit to parliament a package of proposals to support single-parent families, including higher family allowance, new regulation on child support and rules that guarantee flexible working hours, board member Júlia Ábrahám said on Sunday.

Every fifth family, a total of 350,000 are single-parent families in Hungary, with more than half million children raised by one parent, Ábrahám said in a statement. The Fidesz government neglects single-parent families and the advantages of the current family support system can only be enjoyed by the well-off who have many children, raised by two parents, she added.

Nearly two-thirds of single-parent families live in poverty, she said.

LMP will propose raising the family allowance for single-parent families to 20,000 forints. The package will also include a proposal to extend school meal subsidies and a free textbook scheme currently available only to large families with several children to single-parent families.

LMP wants courts to calculate child support payable to single parents based on the real financial circumstances of the other parent. Additionally, the deadline for forced collection of child support should be reduced to two months and in case collection is not successful, the state should advance child support, the statement showed.

Source: MTI