Reply #77: She's in poverty, but having kids makes it worse.

[Igel]

Without including any sort of government aid (state, federal, etc.), poverty level income for her is $9,310. For her and 7 kids: $31,570 (again, leaving out any aid).

Moreover, day care for 1 kid is ghastly; and when my wife and I both were running into our respective offices taking care of our one kid was nighmarish. I have the utmost respect for any single parent.

Daycare for 7? A single parent taking care of 7 kids, age 12 and younger? (Gee, that would nearly constitute an *excuse* for drugs.)

In this case, the "safety net" isn't for somebody who tripped: it's for somebody who not only threw herself off the high-wire, but decided to take other people with her, and did so repeatedly. That's not what the safety net is for. If she were wealthy, had seven kids, and *then* fell to the safety net and became an addict, I'd even feel differently about her.

When you have kids, you assume a responsibility for taking care of them. She's demonstrated a lack of responsibility, whether willful or through massive character weakness or bad genes (liability to addiction). Subsidizing irresponsibility isn't a good idea; if she can't keep from having more kids, put her where she can't have any more kids.