Thank you everybody
Your 8 year old sister will qualify for some kind of food stamps and possibly some other stuff.
Even if she is getting child support from her Dad (different then mine, still alive)? It's really crappy though, less than a hundred dollars a month.
As a single mother, she probably is also eligible for some good training/education aid that will not only get her trained for a better paying job, but even help with some living expenses in the meantime.
The hospital she works for will actually pay for some of her training as long as she signs a contract to work for them, and she's been printing job information out from the OOH. But honestly, I'm not sure if she'd be able to go back to school, she's not very intelligent or driven.
That being said...what is your mother doing now?
She's a cleaning lady at the hospital. She's currently waiting for the next class to be offered to get certified as a nursing assistant though. She also does 1-to-1 on her nights off, where you sit with a patient who needs someone to watch them at all times.
One reason she doesn't want to leave here is because we get good health care through it, and it covers a lot. Most of the other jobs she looked into didn't offer health care.
I'll definitally tell her about the utility company thing, I never thought about that.
My little sister told her friends next door that the tenants were moving out, and aparently one of the couples who lives next door is interested in the apartment, but they aren't exactly reliable people...
As far as my older sister goes, she has filled out a bunch of applications since she came home from college, but really hasn't gotten anywhere even with her waitressing experience.
The checks stop as soon as we graduate from high school, I graduate Friday.