Council of Single Mothers and their Children

Council of Single Mothers and their Children Inc. (CSMC) is a non-profit organisation founded in 1969 by single mothers to secure a better life for women parenting alone and their children.

While we are not a disability service, our national survey of 1112 single mothers show 40% have a disability. Applied to our membership, this means as many as 1784 women may have a disability. Data from our service delivery show mental health and disability concerns are regularly in the top ten presenting issues to the Support Line, along with concerns and issues relating to mutual obligation programs.

We are pleased to have the opportunity to share with the Committee some of the experiences of single mothers contacting us and insights from our research. We answer only the questions where we believe we may make a valuable contribution.