AFTER celebrating International Women’s Day last March 8—and since majority of single parents are women—it is time to revisit how our country is implementing the Solo Parents’ Welfare Act aimed to provide assistance to several mothers left to raise their children by themselves.
While the intention of introducing the legal measure was good, what good is the law if it is not implemented to the fullest? Living on a shoe-string budget, single parents need all the help it can get from the government. Most of these mothers eke out a living while at the mercy of “Dead Beat Daddies”—fathers who abandoned the family and remised in giving support to minor children.
In some countries, law enforcers—in coordination with the Department of Social and Welfare Development—assist mothers to locate fathers who fail to give child support. In most instances, if the father is gainfully employed, the amount for child support is automatically deducted from his salary, and government agencies facilitate the sending of the check to the mother on a regular basis. It is sad to take note that is not the case in our country.
The Solo Parent Welfare Act, which was signed by former President Joseph Ejercito Estrada, provides for the comprehensive program of services for solo parents and their children to be carried out some responsible government agencies.
Who will qualify for the program? A woman who gives birth as a result of rape or other crimes against chastity; a parent left solo and burdened with the responsibility of parenthood due to the death of a spouse; a parent left solo while the spouse is detained or serving sentence; a parent left solo due to physical and/or mental incapacity of a spouse; a parent left solo due to legal separation; a parent left solo as a result of a court declaration for the annulment of marriage; and a parent left solo as a result of the abandonment of a spouse. Unmarried mothers are also covered by the law.
Benefits include livelihood development, counseling, parent effectiveness services, parental leave, scholarship programs for parents and children, non-formal education and medical assistance.