A few days ago, a woman approached me with a simple question: Could the Department of Justice Action Center provide her with free notarial services for an affidavit she needed to submit to the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR)?

But what began as a seemingly routine inquiry quickly turned into something bigger. As we spoke, she shared not just about the paperwork she needed, but the weight she carried as a solo parent. She talked about raising her children largely on her own, budgeting every peso, managing school needs, and being both mother and father in every sense.

Hers is not an isolated story. Across the country, many solo parents, most of them women, quietly shoulder the daily grind of providing for their children with little to no support from their partners. Their resilience is undeniable, but beneath it lies a persistent strain: the lack of consistent financial and emotional support from the other parent.

The encounter was a reminder that beyond extending administrative assistance, there is a larger responsibility to ensure that solo parents know their rights and can claim the protection the law already gives them.

Under the Civil Code of the Philippines, parents have a legal obligation to support their children. The Family Code reinforces this duty, making it clear that both parents are responsible for providing sustenance, shelter, clothing, medical care, education and transportation.

This obligation is mandatory; and it does not disappear with absence, nor can it be ignored by indifference.

For solo parents to whom support is not given, the law offers remedies. A petition for support may be filed before the courts, and in some cases, relief can be sought through summary proceedings. A parent who fails to provide support may also face legal sanctions, including criminal liability under laws addressing economic abuse.

The Expanded Solo Parents Welfare Act acknowledges the unique burdens solo parents carry, granting benefits such as flexible work arrangements, parental leave and, in certain cases, financial assistance. But while these measures help, they are not substitutes for shared responsibility. Indeed, no policy can compensate for an abandoned parental duty.

The woman who approached me did not come to talk about legal rights or obligations; she came for help with notarizing a document she needed to file with the BIR. Yet her story revealed a larger painful truth that too many solo parents are left to carry alone.

Ensuring access to legal information, assistance and services, such as free notarial support, may seem like small acts. But for someone already over-burdened with parental chores alone and stretched to the limit, they do matter. They help restore a measure of lost dignity, and more importantly, they open the door to justice.

The woman’s story lingers. And it does so as a quiet but urgent call to bridge the gap between the law and lived reality, in order to make the law more experientially felt, not just known. And this is because no parent should have to stand alone when the law itself says they do not have to.