A new Single Parents’ Centre opened in Buda

The Single Parents’ Centre opened in Buda on the National Day of Single Parents celebrated all over the world. So from now on single parents and their children are welcome with varied events, services and practical help in two locations.

The Buda Single Parents’ Centre, another supporting communal space of nearly two hundred square metres was established for single parents and their children. The services of the institution in Magyar Jakobinusok Square, next to the Southern Railway Station, can be easily accessed by single parent families living in Buda and its vicinity.

At the opening event, elected President of Hungary, Katalin Novák stated: “The Single Parents’ Centre is a special ‘Hugarikum’, which does not exist anywhere else in the world and that is the reason why it attracts many admirers.” She emphasised that single parent families were not left on their own.

Anna Nagy in charge of the Single Parents’ Centre said: “To bring up children is a miracle. More than half of single parent families are poor, therefore they do not have the resources to pay either for after-school lessons and or sometimes even for a mid-morning snack.” She referred to the government’s measures as important, for example the new law on child maintenance, which provides targeted support where it is most needed.

State Secretary for the development of Budapest and its vicinity, Balázs Fürjes highlighted: “The plan to establish the Buda Centre was decided in March 2021, and it was espoused by the then Minister for Families, Katalin Novák, and supported by the Hegyvidék District local authority. According to the Mayor of Hegyvidék, Zoltán Pokorni, the Single Parents’ Centre can present support and new opportunities to all those parents on their own who struggle with their tasks, which sometimes seem hopeless.

In Hungary more than half a million children are brought up by single parents and the number of single parent families can be estimated at 300,000. In May 2018 the Single Parents’ Club Foundation opened the first Single Parents’ Centre on Üllői Road in Pest with the aim of providing practical assistance and a community for families where one parent is absent. Since then the Centre has reached out to more than 27,000 single parent families with 70 types of services.