Thursday, November 4, 2010

When the recession takes it all away

Life was good for one mother from Cork .... until the recession. This is her story:

In 2007 I fell pregnant with my daughter, who was born in April 2008. I worked for a solicitor, and my husband worked for a global computer company, so we both brought in enough money to be comfortable. 

I was due to return to work from Maternity Leave in October 2008, right when the recession hit Ireland.  I was told that there was no job for me, as there were cut backs, I have been unemployed ever since, I've applied for jobs but no joy. 

My son was born last November, and we thought that as I was out of work it would make sense to have our children now, rather than put our family on hold because of the recession. My husband was in full time employment and with the child benefit every month, we made it work. My child benefit usually buys clothes for the kids every 3 months as they grow so fast, my son has been ill and his medication is expensive.  Also I was diagnosed with Post Natal depression, so the child benefit contributes to this as well as heating oil for the house. My husband and I could live without the heating, but with a baby and a toddler it just isn't an option. 

Sadly my husband lost his job a couple of weeks ago so things are looking pretty grim now, the only hope we had for christmas was the child benefit, if it reduced we will be very badly affected, and I know a lot of other families will be even harder hit than us.

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