# Why does this public assistance scam re babies without declared fathers not raise a red flag?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-this-public-assistance-scam-re-babies-without-declared-fathers-not-raise-a-red-flag/616581>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [March 23, 2012, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-this-public-assistance-scam-re-babies-without-declared-fathers-not-raise-a-red-flag/616581 "2012-03-23T04:30:54Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\
**Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-this-public-assistance-scam-re-babies-without-declared-fathers-not-raise-a-red-flag/616581/21 "2013-04-10T12:54:20Z")

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> [@Ms.Pumpkin](#):
>
> I thought legal questions belonged in IMHO?

It’s more of a who do you contact question, not is this legal. Regardless my point is ask the question in a new thread with the question in the title. The mods will change forums if they want to. That’s their prerogative.

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**Author:** ![Ms.Pumpkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a87d85/32.png) [@Ms.Pumpkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms.Pumpkin)\
**Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-this-public-assistance-scam-re-babies-without-declared-fathers-not-raise-a-red-flag/616581/22 "2013-04-10T13:00:29Z")

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> [@Harmonious\_Discord](#):
>
> It’s more of a who do you contact question, not is this legal. Regardless my point is ask the question in a new thread with the question in the title. The mods will change forums if they want to. That’s their prerogative.

Yeah- I guess I just interpreted their post differently. No biggie.

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**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\
**Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-this-public-assistance-scam-re-babies-without-declared-fathers-not-raise-a-red-flag/616581/23 "2013-04-10T13:54:29Z")

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No social support system can be fraud-free unless you spend more on enforcement and control than you do on benefits. There are always going to be some number that game the system; you can lose lots of sleep over the “waste” or try to see if the system’s benefits to the community outweigh the cost of a few freeloaders.

With a few notable exceptions, most investigations turn up low percentages of overall fraud. I stopped losing sleep over “welfare queens bankrupting the country” a long time ago.

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