One Parent Families Scotland has been working since 1944 to help lone parents.

We are a national voluntary organisation, registered as a charity.

Origins

The need for the organisation was first debated in the early 1940's by a group of social workers concerned about the difficulties and disadvantages faced by unmarried mothers and their children. Initially the idea had been to establish a Scottish committee of the National Council for the Unmarried Mother and her Child, however it was decided to found a separate organisation, the Scottish Council for the Unmarried Mother and her Child. This was constituted in 1944 and was known by the acronym SCUM! Resources were extremely limited, receiving only small grants from local and central government, donations from various sources, including at one point profits from a student association contraceptive machine at St Andrews University. This did not allow for paid staff or a formal office.

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Growth in Resources

In 1952 an office was opened in Edinburgh and a part-time secretary was employed. In 1967 central government funding was obtained and the secretary's position became full-time. Additional staff were employed, subsequently, to conduct research and to provide help for individual parents. In 1973 the council changed its name to the Scottish Council for Single Parents, reflecting the expansion of its work to include all groups of single parents. Keeping abreast of the times, the organisation became One Parent Families Scotland in 1995.

The main development in the resources of the organisation came in the late 1970's when Urban Aid funding was obtained for a Strathclyde project. This began in 1980, with an office in Glasgow city centre and a project in Easterhouse. In 1983 Scottish Office funding was obtained for a Training Unit, based in Edinburgh.

In 1984 the Sitter Service was established in Edinburgh, initially with Unemployed Voluntary Action Fund (UVAF) money and then with Urban Aid funding. Similarly, UVAF money was used to establish a drop-in centre on the Whitfield estate, Dundee in 1985 which was subsequently extended to an advice, information and community development project with Urban Aid funding in 1986.

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Moves to Independent Projects

In 1986 the Scottish Council for Single Parents became a limited company with charitable status.

In 1987 Strathclyde Region agreed to fund the Strathclyde project when Urban Aid funding finished. It was then decided that this should become a separate organisation, One Plus,One Parent Families Strathclyde, with its own management committee.

In 1988 Urban Aid funding was approved to set up Family Centres in Maddiston near Falkirk and in Broxburn, West Lothian.

In 1992 an Out of School Care Project was established, the Cherry Drop Club in Dundee and a Furniture Recycling Project in Tayside.

In 1999 Childcare @ Home Dundee was established and Childcare @ Home North Lanarkshire in 2002.

One Plus, the Edinburgh Sitter Service (now Firsthand), Broxburn Family Centre, the Cherry Drop Club (now the Under 12s Project) and the Furniture Project Tayside can all be counted amongst the organisations successes, as they have all become separate agencies with their own management committees.

Further Information

The OPFS Archive at the Glasgow Caledonian University website