DSWD pilots support program for single parents

The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has begun a pilot test of a new program that seeks to empower single parents left to fend for themselves, with expanded services to provide emotional and financial support.

The yearlong pilot phase of “Solo,” short for “Strengthening Opportunities for Lone Parents,” was recently rolled out in Lapu-Lapu City in the hope that solo parents and their kids find an “enabling environment” that would help them carry out their various roles.

“[Program] Solo introduces innovations on psychosocial interventions to ensure emotional support, alternative care arrangements for children and dependents and counter the stigma and discrimination in the community,” Ada Colico, DSWD assistant secretary, said in a statement on Saturday.

Under the program, single parents with an income within the minimum-wage threshold and have two or three children below 22 years old will be provided “emotional and parenting support system” as well as “developmental interventions” for their kids.

These include psychosocial services and a monthly subsidy of P1,000 for qualified beneficiaries, as stipulated in Republic Act No. 11861, or the Expanded Solo Parents Welfare Act, according to Social Welfare Undersecretary Edu Punay.

Local governments are tasked to form a social welfare desk solely dedicated for solo parents’ concerns.

READ: DSWD launches ‘Program SOLo’ for single parents

“The pilot will run this year. And then we will assess if we can already implement it [fully] by next year, depending on the capacity of [local governments] since they will be [on top] of the implementation and funding,” Punay said in a text message.

Only three areas were tapped for the pilot implementation. The other two were in Anda town, Pangasinan, and Panabo City, Davao del Norte.

An initial beneficiary count of 30 single-parent families per city or town will be covered during the pilot rollout.