Any way to get him working again Peter? Can you get custody? Or is welfare a popular choice?
He's under his mom welfare, due to her defrauding welfare previously her assistance was only about $160 /mo,and my son was court ordered to live with me, due to a new motion by my ex, we ended up in trial after a couple years of court conferences, we had "pre-trial" in which the judge told her she will still be paying me, credit to my ex, she "found" a "girlfriend" for my son, and he ran to be with this girl, lasted not a week, then his mom moved in, and now she receives over $1200/mo, plus an apartment. Now, child benefits only last till he's 18, on june 3 this year......they both loose the welfare. Not much in the way for him since he's not in school anymore, she let him skip classes.
....so basically yes, welfare is the way to go for many, many people up here, not so much young and "able bodied" unless they have babies of their own (a common choice). Now, once he's 18 he has to apply for his own welfare, and the previous requirement was that he was supposed to be in school and graduate at 18, well, he might be hard pressed to come up with a good reason for him to be on welfare.
EDIT: Up here children at 14 can pretty much do what they want, and self determine their life. Courts, police and social workers basically wash their hands in helping children with their parents at this point.