Fathers disappear from households across America ......

[soulflower]

Or, are you saying that mom A, with one child gets a check, but if she ends up with four kids (still no outside support) she gets no more money than if she had just the one kid?

Yes. If a person on welfare has one child. They will get cash benefits for one child only even if they have more children while on welfare(although I don't think food stamps and medicaid would be limited to the one child in my example). It used to be that they could get more cash benefits if they had more children. Of course it varies to different degrees from State to State and there are likely going to be exceptions but for the most part, Welfare since 1996 is a more Conservative government program.

How does she support the extra kids?

In the area where I work, theres lots of public housing, dominated (80 to 100%) by unemployed single mom families. One kid is not the norm, but two, three or four are.

I have no idea but you seem like the type who makes a lot of assumptions about people that may not necessarily be true.

I know a single mom with kids by different fathers yet she has a job. People do whatever they have to do to survive.

Do they have to spread the payments they get for their one child to cover the other kids?

Like I said above, people do what they have to do to survive.

Some in that situation may decide it makes more sense to get a job at McDonalds or Walmart.

Every State is different but the States are doing a better job of running these programs than how they were run by the Federal government.

[pepper]

Yes. If a person on welfare has one child. They will get cash benefits for one child only even if they have more children while on welfare(although I don't think food stamps and medicaid would be limited to the one child in my example). It used to be that they could get more cash benefits if they had more children. Of course it varies to different degrees from State to State and there are likely going to be exceptions but for the most part, Welfare since 1996 is a more Conservative government program.



I have no idea but you seem like the type who makes a lot of assumptions about people that may not necessarily be true.

I know a single mom with kids by different fathers yet she has a job. People do whatever they have to do to survive.



Like I said above, people do what they have to do to survive.

Some in that situation may decide it makes more sense to get a job at McDonalds or Walmart.

Every State is different but the States are doing a better job of running these programs than how they were run by the Federal government.

In other words, benefits increase to support the kids, because otherwise, we'd have lots of starving street urchins like a third world country.

Talk about assumptions! If people did what they had to do to survive (assuming, as I do, that survive means make decisions that are not careless) the situation would be very different. What you call survival is actually adapting to the situation, while remaining dependent.

How old are you Soul? 'cause I've been working in this area for 27 years, and the projects are dominated by unemployed single women with multiple kids. They are for the most part dependent on government. I've seen no change in that.

I believe life experience trumps sentiment. I've been in this area every day since January 1983. What year where you born?

[soulflower]

In other words, benefits increase to support the kids, because otherwise, we'd have lots of starving street urchins like a third world country.

Talk about assumptions! If people did what they had to do to survive (assuming, as I do, that survive means make decisions that are not careless) the situation would be very different. What you call survival is actually adapting to the situation, while remaining dependent.

How old are you Soul? 'cause I've been working in this area for 27 years, and the projects are dominated by unemployed single women with multiple kids. They are for the most part dependent on government. I've seen no change in that.

I believe life experience trumps sentiment. I've been in this area every day since January 1983. What year where you born?

I'm in my thirties but I'm sure I've spent more time in housing projects than you, having lived in one until I was a teen. My parents worked and so did many other people who lived in the projects for various reasons including the high cost of living in NYC. I admit that things may be different in Baltimore where there are probably far fewer working class people who live in public housing than there are in the larger more expensive cities.

My Mom, a single-parent, always told me "it's not 'where' you live, it's 'how' you live" and that saying has stuck with me my entire life.