<prompt> Human: Single father who has over the last year exhausted all cash reserves on child care to work. My monthly salary is 3,000, before taxes. Roughly 2,600 bring home. My rent is 1,050mo, my care including insurance is 650mo, the mother is getting ebt while not helping, therefore not allowing me to get help there food runs close to 500mo. Power varies month to month but average 120mo. Phone, and cable are 130mo. Havent added in fuel, random purchases such as diapers, cleaning supplies, and eating out from time to time. Many months I somehow spent upwards of 5,200mo. Ive maxed out both my credit cards, and currently have a checking account so overdrawn I wont even see my coming check. I dont have any family that can help, my credit has never been great since the only purchase I have is a car loan ever, and 2 credit cards. Which prevents me from even getting a crazy interest loan. Ive literally got 80 cash on hand to live until the 14th or 15th of Jan. Ive asked my employer for a raise and basically got rejected. My biggest expense has been childcare which Ill get back on my taxes, but thats awhile out. I have 182 in stocks I could cash out, and 2 savings accounts with 1 each and unsure if I could overdraft those. Assistant: If the kids are living with you, they shouldnt be on Moms SNAP case. Contact your local SNAP office, get an application, and when they come back with these kids are already assisted provide proof that you are the one providing them with food, diapers, childcare and a place to live. Do you have some type of parenting plan that outlines who has custody and how expenses are shared? If not, you need one. Low income people can usually get help making one and filing it with the court from your local legal aidlegal services. Human: Worked with a case worker, end result was state lawrule was as long as the mother had them for at least ONE day they wouldnt make any changes. While she sometimes will get them for half a day, there wasnt any proof theyd accept to overthrow the rule anyways.  <response>: Yeah, that strikes me as wrong enough to be worth visiting with someone at a legal services-type organization about. If their basing the decision on something out-of-date parenting plancourt decision you two are no longer following, thats worth fixing. It will help you with other things too. Im not an expert on the laws of all 50 states, but Ive found 10 states in about 45 seconds of Googling who explicitly state that children should be included in the SNAP household where they eat more mealsspend more time. And the finer points of those rules are targeted at 5050 situations, you seem to be describing more of a 955 if that. 