
Help for Single Parents: Can Work and Family Life Work Better?
Across Europe, single parents describe the same daily math problem: not enough hours, not enough money, not enough backup. This DW film follows people building fixes rather than just naming the gap. In Vienna, Sarah Zeller founded the non-profit JUNO after failing to find an affordable shared apartment for her own single-parent household; the group now works with property developers and has placed over 160 families in compact, affordable housing designed for them. In Belgium's Wallonia region, social worker Amandine Dedoncker runs the government-backed "Relais Familles Mono" program, teaching practical skills and building community among isolated parents. In Rostock, sales assistant Bianka Baumann works Saturday shifts at a supermarket, a schedule only possible because a local daycare center now offers overnight care when ordinary nurseries are closed. The film moves between these three settings, letting the parents and the people who serve them describe what actually changes when housing, community, and childcare are redesigned around irregular lives.