It happens. The trick, obviously, is to find ways to care for the children that cost less than what the gov't is providing. Involves lots of ramen (well, not a lot, just a high share of total diet), hand-me-downs, and shopping at the Dollar Store. There's also folks who will get a job just long enough to qualify for whatever gov't benefits are available, then quit and live off the gov't until their benefit period expires, find another shit job for a while and repeat. Talked to a hotel manager about that once; interesting insights.