The National Parents' Committee (NRC) sent a proposal to the State Duma and the Russian government to introduce a temporary additional allowance for single mothers, as well as fathers who are raising children themselves.
The chairman of the NRC, Irina Volynets, justifies this proposal with the "difficult economic situation" that has developed in the country due to the coronavirus pandemic. According to Volynets, single parents are still an unprotected social group, despite the fact that the state has already allocated funds for benefits to children of different ages.
"I ask you to provide monthly compensation to single mothers and single fathers by the end of this year at the rate of at least two living wages per family member," the text of the appeal says. At the same time, the head of the NRC stressed that all existing benefits and allowances for such parents should be fully preserved.
There are no official systematic statistics on single parents in Russia. In 2017, Anna Kuznetsova, Commissioner for Children's Rights under the President of Russia, reported that about a third, that is, five million of 17 million Russian families, are single mothers with children. Also, according to her, in 600 thousand families, single fathers are engaged in raising children.