Joint custody, single-family card, alimony… What to remember from the parliamentary report on single-parent families

In a report published Monday and including 41 measures, Renaissance Senator Xavier Iacovelli intends to strengthen recognition of the status of single-parent families and highlight the best interests of the child.

“Recognize the often invisible realities of a family’s close out of four in France.” Renaissance Senator Xavier Iacovelli delivered a report on Monday September 30 on single-parent families, which represent 23% of French families according to INSEE. This mission was entrusted to him on March 6 by Gabriel Attal, then Prime Minister. The senator collaborated with MP Fanta Bérété until her defeat in the early legislative elections.

It is therefore alone that he submits this report, which includes 41 measures and which pursues the objective of “reconcile the needs of parents with the best interests of the child” and whose implementation artwork “would allow to improve the daily lives of these families and to remove certain weaknesses”. This report is based on six pillars: enriching knowledge of single parenthood; better support for the needs of these families; the best interests of the child; better support towards employment; towards housing; the adaptation of fiscal and social support. “Single-parent families must no longer be left alone to face these challenges,” introduces the report.

First measure defended, and initially proposed by Fanta Bérété: the establishment of a “single family card”dematerialized, which could be obtained at two possible times, “during the income tax declaration, or more quickly and for a more modest public, thanks to the quarterly declaration to the CAF/MSA”explains the report. “Recognition of this status would allow access either to reductions in public companies, or to systems put in place by local, territorial or other authorities. This certificate would also be applicable to housing”details the senator in an interview with the magazine She.

The report also considers the obligation of joint custody, “before any other solution”, “in the best interests of the child”. This principle should be registered “in the texts”declared the senator during a press conference. This mode of care could be ruled out in the event of“consensual agreement of both parents”. “This framework would be applicable except in the case of proven violent behavior by one of the two parents”specifies the report.

En the absence of alternate or shared custody, the relationship foresees, “for the weekends and school holidays, a right and therefore a duty of visitation and accommodation of the parent not-guardian”. The report also opens “the possibility for each child, at a given age, to choose their usual place of care and residence while preserving the right and duty of both parents to visit and accommodate”.

He recommends“support families at the key moment of separation to guarantee long-term co-parenting”. It is during this phase that would be affirmed “the rights and duties of each parent” in terms of “financial contribution”, “rights and duties to support the child” and“association of both parents in the child’s educational journey”. Concerning alimony, the report ensures that “the rights and duties of each parent must be reaffirmed” And “proposes a single and enforceable minimum scale to determine them” : the contribution to the education and maintenance of the child (CEEE). He proposes to generalize it, even to modest parents and holders of social minimums. Currently, some parents are deemed “unable” to pay or insolvent and do not contribute to the maintenance of their children.

“When a baby is made by two people, even if the amount is symbolic, there must be a part taken for the education of the child.”

Xavier Iacovelli, senator

in “She”

This scale should take into account the parent’s income, but also adjust to “real needs of the child”according to the senator. Pensions are determined according to the income of the non-custodial parent, who is often the father. Indeed, in 82% of cases, single-parent families are headed by a woman, the Senate women’s rights delegation recalled in March in another report, delivered by senators Béatrice Gosselin and Colombe Brossel..

The parent who has primary custody of the child and assumes his or her real needs “loses 25% of its purchasing power in the event of separation”underlines Xavier Iacovelli. “The standard of living for the child must not change, or at least he must be able to keep his extracurricular activities, his activities”he emphasizes. The senator hopes that these recommendations will be taken up by the government of Michel Barnier and assures, always in Shethat he is going “table either amendments in the finance bill and the Social Security financing bill, or legislative proposals which would emanate from this report”.