FORWARD

Introduction to the Useful Box by Kay Buckley - former co-executive officer of NCSMC

I remember a time when I became a single mother and the experience of uncoupling was complicated, grief laden and exhausting.  It seemed like everyone I knew was in a stable relationship and that I was the only one in town negotiating life as a parent alone. 

Services to keep us safe and sane were difficult to access and I remember circling the city with my handbag (and two kids in tow) gathering information about housing, paid work, childcare, income support, training options, legal advice and counselling services for myself and the children.   Very soon my handbag was replaced by a folder, and later by a big plastic shopping bag.  Later still it became a back pack  -  crammed full of essential information for the single mother.  Some of it was enormously helpful, some was useless.  Living in single motherland helped me to differentiate and led me eventually to the National Council of Single Mothers and their Children (NCSMC).

Here I met women who were fellow travelers.  Women who knew:

·        who supplied good legal advice

·        how to find a mentor

·        where to go for really effective help and

·        why Centrelink had just cancelled my benefit!

Our collective knowledge was prodigious but scattered so when the Office of the Status of Women announced its 2001 round of national project funding NCSMC decided to act.  The Useful Box Project was designed as a net to catch all the practice wisdom in a “how to” of community development, gathered by single mothers for the benefit of all Australian women. 

The capacity building project aimed to gather information as diverse as how to start a single mother group to how to get my child to get his socks on in time for school in the morning.

Single mothers contributed an eclectic collection of information by telephone, fax, email, post and dropping into the office to give us the latest.  They gave us tips and information on parenting, legal services, safe contact, employment and income support, emerging policy issues, relationships, choosing a school, good childcare, how to run a conference and the impact of current policy on the lives of single mothers and their families.  They gave us stories of their lives, including the low points and triumphs.  They gave us road tested information delivered with a discerning bite. 

The Useful Box is a delightful and inspirational collection of tips and tricks contributed by an extraordinary group of women.

And so I commend to you the Useful Box.  The universe needs single mothers who can think productively and creatively who will generously share our wit, wisdom and wiles in order to achieve a better world for our families. Browse on!

Love and peace,

Kay Buckley

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