Quote:
Originally Posted by Tobra
This is a crucial element ignored by the above study by design. There is a cash incentive for those on public assistance to have more children. There is also a cash incentive for the fathers of these children to deny paternity. It is not so much that poorer men father fewer children, as that they fail to claim paternity.
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I used to think that, Tobra, but I'm really beginning to wonder. In dealing with social welfare programs (both Federal and State), as well as experience in youth court/domestic relations litigation, I'm not so sure any more. I just don't see young, poor women saying "Punching out a baby (or babies) is gonna get me a check (bigger check)."
Rather, I see the attitude being "My life sucks. If I had a baby there would always be someone there for me to love and to love me back. And it makes me an adult." Almost like a kid wanting a puppy. I cannot recall the motivation being pecuniary...certainly not on the front end. Quite the contrary, I've heard the lament "How you gonna raise that baby...your check ain't gonna be enough." Often coming from the grandparents who inevitably end up being the primary caretaker.
As to the comments about the rationale for males to deny paternity to escape financial responsibility, point well taken. Nothwithstanding that, the male attitude does seem to have a similar "Look at me I'm a grown man because I can impregnate a number of women."
And before anybody wants to run this off into a partisan political diatribe, let's face the fact that both sides have to some degree contributed to our welfare state mentality with regard to public policy in this arena. There's plenty of blame to go around that we have 4th, 5th, 6th generation welfare families.