Hope Street CEO, Donna Bennett's first job as a new graduate was as a Youth Housing Support Worker for young people with dependants in Broadmeadows, Victoria.   In this Parity magazine opinion piece, she reflects on how far young single mums have come - and how far we still have to go to support them.

What I saw and understood from my friends and life in regional Victoria did not prepare me however for the level of disadvantage, discrimination, negative judgements, poverty and isolation I soon learned about in my new role as a social worker.

Twenty six years on, I’m astonished (not surprised) that our social and financial policy makers continue to purposely disadvantage single women with children perpetuating entrenched poverty. I see this with the young women with children who enter our programs at Hope Street Youth and Family Services.

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Parity magazine, the Council to Homeless Persons’ (CHP) national publication, is published ten times a year and examines homelessness from personal, local, social, national and global perspectives.