A mother of four tells CLAUDIA CALLEJA how she struggles to feed her family amid a cost-of-living crisis hitting the poor hardest.

Rose* cannot cope with life’s expenses. She has four young children and no income except for the children’s allowance that amounts to under €5,000 a year.

And, now that she walked out of her abusive marriage after over a decade, she has no home and no money to pay rent.

“Every month, I ask for help. I never manage to get through the month. And now the price of everything increased: food, nappies... everything. I did not cope before and now even less.

“When I go shopping I am very careful where to buy from since different shops charge different prices. You have to be smart. I cannot buy my children the cheese strings they like since they are too expensive,” she says.

So, once her money finishes, Rose, who is in her 20s, turns to her elderly parents or seeks help from NGOs or Church volunteers who support with food vouchers. That’s how she scrapes through the month.

My husband has been verbally abusive towards me. He has insulted me and cheated on me but when he beat up my children I had to leave- Mother of four

Rose’s story is testimony to what we already know on paper: single mothers from vulnerable families are burdened with another layer of vulnerability because of their motherhood.

A recent report issued by Caritas Malta, a Church organisation with a mission to alleviate poverty, showed single parents are among the groups most at-risk of poverty.

The cost of a typical food basket for a single parent with two children increased by more than a fifth, from €5,200 in 2020 to €6,300 in 2022, the report found, as the coronavirus pandemic pushed up food and medicine prices.

The mother can't cope with expenses.

Benefits barely enough to cover rent

Until a few months ago, Rose was living with her husband, who does not work due to a health problem. The family lived off his unemployment benefits and disability pension (about €700 a month) as well as her carer benefits (about €600 monthly).

“My husband has been verbally abusive towards me. He has insulted me and cheated on me but when he beat up my children I had to leave,” she said.

I couldn’t stay,” she says.

Leaving meant she no longer gets the carer benefits, which makes her essentially penniless except for the children’s allowance.

Rose lived with her parents for a while and then moved into a Church-run home until she finds her feet. She is now starting the separation process, which will mean she can start getting government benefits.

But that will not cover her expenses. She says the benefits will be some €600 a month, barely enough to cover rent.

It doesn't pay to work

What about working?

Being a single mother with no support network, this is difficult for her, especially since her youngest child, a toddler, has medical issues.

“I was always a housewife. I cannot do anything, so if I had to find a job it would have to be a cleaner. But, at this point in my life, I need to be there for my children, especially the youngest,” she says.

Rose is illiterate but she is streetwise. She knows that benefits would leave more in her pocket than working part-time on minimum wage.

She is also concerned about losing the guaranteed support of benefits due to the government “benefit tapering scheme” that allows those seeking to re-enter the workforce to phase out benefits over a period of three years.

She fears that employers would not be flexible to her needs as a single mother of four. The tapering scheme, she says, works on paper but the reality is harsher.

Note: Name and details have been changed to protect the family’s identity.