Speakin' of gettin' a job - sure, she needs it rather than livin' on welfare. Livin' on welfare doesn't help much. It all depends on what experience she has and what kind of job that she CAN work... some things that she knows how to work. If, not -- then, she needs to get some college education as well to get a better pay ( job ).
It is not necessary for her to work more than 40 hours a week. There's some jobs that pays good with less hours. Some pays fairly with more hours. Dependin' on what kind of job/hrs she wants.
I personally think this idiot mother should be at least temporarily severed from the kids. Have them stay with relatives until the mother can get a job and exhibit responsible behavior. The permanent requirements I would set follow:
1. She must work a job for a minimum of 6 months (they must be consecutive).
2. She must be given positive reviews in regular reviews on work performance (2 minimum positive reviews, also to be consecutive).
3. She must learn how to write up and implement a budget. A required expense on it would be to pay half the regular payment plus any interest from the debt accrued in the ten months non-payment on the mortgage, set up a budget that can return the balance to an acceptable figure within a year, maximum. This can be negotiated with the grandmother.
4. She must refile monthly for any aid that she gets. During the period of severance, the aid that would be given for the kids goes to the caretakers, and not the mother.
5. During her pregnancy, she should be busy applying for jobs stating an availability, barring any complications of the pregnancy and birth, of no later than a month after delivery
6. If there are not enough relatives willing to care for the kids, suitable "foster" parents will be chosen in local areas. The same requirement of financial responsibility will be used in choosing these parents. Visitation will also be allowed on a weekly basis, with a maximum limit of $100 to feed the kids while on visitation. Any more must be from the mother, so no splurging on a trip to Adventure Landing until she has gone quite well out of her hole to a place she will never fall back into it.
Terms of the severance period would include:
1. The severance would last a minimum of 1 year, with a requirement that she have fulfilled all above requirements before a time between 2 and 5 years (decision to be left up to the judicial system) after the beginning of her working (yes, this means that the official timeline does not start until after the pregnancy. The severance should start immediately.
2. If the mother is unable to meet the requirements above by the deadline, the severance should be made a permanent one and the kids put up for adoption. If the relatives and/or foster parents wish to keep the kids, they must fill out and qualify for the adoption.
3. If she meets the requirements, but is still unable to pay for the care of all the kids, a partial rejoining can be allowed, with the older children given preference to choice.
4. During the severance period, the mother may not practice in un-protected sex. This means she must use condoms (whether a male or female condom is used does not matter), and contraceptives if sexually active. This extends to sex after marriage as well.
5. If she gets married, the stepfather must also meet the above requirements. (One mooch marries another mooch and all you have is a double mooch)
6. She must seek her own housing, rental or owning, so long as:
7. She must demonstrate the ability to pay her housing bills, as well as her part of the mortgage payment (which continues until the amount she pays is half of the cost accrued during the ten month period, including interest, is paid by her.)
8. Any children conceived during the period will be treated the same as the original 14, taken to a foster family or relative who will be charged with the responsibility of caring for the kid(s). If it is shown that the mother was violating rule #4, punishments of severity up to and including permanent severance as described in rule #2.
additionally, the grandmother she mooched off of should be entitled to public aid due to her being the victim of this circumstance. All aid obtained this way is to be billed to her daughter.
I think the above is a quite balanced way for her to redeem herself. I believe people should be given second chances, so while I agree with Lucia that she was irresponsible and should be made to pay back what she stole, we should give her another chance.
Quite interesting link. Jillo, what do you think of that? I'm curious.
