<prompt> Human: Hello, I am a 17 year old thats turning 18 in 12 days and I live in California. Im looking for a part time job right now so I can have a bit of spending money for the remainder of my high school life. However, my mom is strongly against this idea because she is afraid that because of my part time job, well lose all government benefits such as medi-cal, government-assisted housing, as well as a free lunch program.My dad is the sole-breadwinner of our household of four. He makes 24,000 a year and we receive about 1.2k in aid from the government. Will me getting a part time job affect how my parents receive government benefits? Can I still be considered a dependent even though Ill be 18 and working as well as moving away soon for college? TL;DR: I want to get a part time job, but my mom says no because well lose government benefits. Is that true?  <response>: I sort of understand your moms position, but I also think its a bad idea to deliberately stay in low-income jobs only to keep benefits. benefits are fine when people need them, but they can be terrible as a lifestyle and create a sense of helplessness or dependency on others to fix your life. I mean, what would your mom say about your dad tripling his income? he could earn more than enough to make up for the lost benefits and still have money left over. ditto if your mom was also working and earned 2kmonth ... this would be more than the total benefits. the real question is whether your personal income is part of the calculations to determine benefits, or if youre totally separate from them. maybe ask at rtax 