Are you legally responsible for the support of your daughter? Maybe. Some states go after relatives to recover the money they pay out in public assistance. Different states have different ages at which persons become adults for the purpose of making contracts, especially contracts that indebt them. You can begin by calling your local library. Ask for the reference desk. If they cannot determine whether or not your state has a welfare-recovery statute, or what your state sets as the age of majority for debts, they can at least give you some ideas as to who WILL answer these questions, such as the local Attorney General's office, or your political representative's office. (NOTE: You may feel embarassed asking these questions. Understand something. Libraries are very big on privacy, they won't ask who you are. You can even call a library in another town. And when you call a place like your local attorney general to ask questions, you DON'T have to give your real name. You may get some idiot telling you that they can't give you legal advice. Be forceful and state that you are NOT asking for advice, you just want to know what the statutes SAY.) If you do not want her creditors (or the state) to come after you, you can begin by publishing a repudiation notice in the local paper, stating who you are, who your child is, and that you will not be responsible for any of her debts. If anyone asks you to pay any of her bills, and you do so, you may be creating a legal precedent that may force you to continue to do so.....to avoid this, bills can be paid anonymously with money orders. You can of course legally disown your daughter in court, which may add an insulating layer between you and any financial obligations. If you ever give money to this child, consider carefully how to do so. If it is a total gift, give it as cash. If you ever want it back, use a check and get an IOU....even a handwritten IOU has the force of law behind it as a contract. You do not mention your parental status. Are you the biological father or mother of the person you are asking about? Are you divorced from the other biological parent? Giving more information will help us help you. Now, a lot more importantly. Are you MORALLY responsible to support your child? Your question implies that she needs more than welfare to survive. It also implies that she is not employed. Being 18 and having 2 children suggests that she was having sex as a minor, and that strongly suggests that something went radically wrong with YOU as a parent.....unless she was raped, twice? I think most people would consider it a minimum responsibility of a parent to teach a minor girl about birth control and sexually-transmitted diseases, and to provide enough supervision and discipline to prevent a minor girl from becoming pregnant. Since you evidently completely failed in those areas, it might be appropriate for you to provide some help for a bad situation you did too little to prevent. The danger here is that providing financial support may prevent your daughter from ever becoming a whole human being, a responsible self-sufficient adult and a good parent. Even people who had lousy parents have a responsibilty to themselves to do their best....and when they have their own children, becoming mature and reliable is essential, no matter how badly they were brought up. Unfortuanately, welfare can prevent people from ever growing up and becoming whole people. So, if not financial help, what help CAN you give your daughter? First, you can get educated. First and foremost, who was the father (or fathers)? Where are they? Depending upon the Age of Consent law in the jurisdiction where your daughter became pregnant, these men are probably criminals, statutory rapsists. If you are not familiar with this law, the local library, or your Attorney General, should be able to help you. As criminals, you could get the State police actively involved in locating them. The father(s) have a LEGAL obligation to provide financial support to the children, whether married to your daughter or not. The Federal government is very aggressive about getting money out of non-custodial parents. They can track and prosecute the father(s), but your daughter is going to have to cooperate. If she cannot provide things like a social security number, she could at least give a last known address or last known employer. If the guy isn't employed, the Feds can and will take any money he has in the bank, and take any property like a car, to sell it. If he is working, money will automatically come out of his paycheck before he gets it, and be sent to her. Since your daughter was a minor when she became pregnant, the father(s) will also likely face criminal charges. Once out of jail, the law will track them, require them to work, and put them back in jail if they don't work and pay. The IRS will be able to track any bank accounts they have, so money cannot be hidden if they work for cash or deal drugs or something equally scummy. It should go without saying that your daughter may not want to give details about the father or fathers, or she may be uncertain who the father(s) might be. She could be embarrassed, or fear retaliation. Getting this information out of her could be tricky, so you should consider very carefully how you go about it. A welfare worker might be able to bluff her, by claiming that if she doesn’t cough up a name, her benefits will be cut off. It may be that her friends know who the father(s) are. You may have to be creative. Since you have a daughter who got pregnant as a minor, it seems a fairly safe bet that you and she do not communicate very effectively. If that is the case, you need to change that if you have any intention of helping her, or getting her to the point where she can help herself. There are many excellent books on communication skills at the library, and there might be free courses at a local community college. Your daughter may lack self-confidence or inspiration. Your library might have some audiocassettes by Anthony Robbins. Many people find him inspiring, he has helped many people pull themselves out of bad situations. Your daughter does not have to be on welfare. Most states actively encourage single mothers to get education, skills and good jobs. Begin by calling your state’s Vocational Rehabilitation office, and your political representative’s office. You can also find literally HUNDREDS of government programs in Matthew Lesko’s books. Ask your librarian to find for you the book “Free Money to Change Your Life”. They may have to get it through the inter-library loan system. This book will help you find ways for your daughter to get off welfare forever and have a real life with more money. Get a brand-new notebook before you begin any of this. Whenever you do something, put down the date, time of day, and the NAME of the person you talked to. Many people who work for the Government are stupid and lazy. They may not know the law, they may not want to do the work. Don’t take no for an answer. Always begin by getting the name of the person you are speaking with, THEN ask your questions. If you don’t like the answers, hang up, call back, and ask the receptionist who the supervisor of that person is….then call the supervisor to complain. If you get blown off by the cops when you want them to track down the father(s), go ahead and call your local newspaper. The newspaper is going to be VERY interested in hearing about how the local cops are refusing to track and arrest a deadbeat Dad. That will motivate the cops just fine. (Remember: You may get some idiot telling you that they can't give you legal advice. Be forceful and state that you are NOT asking for legal advice, you just want to know what the statutes SAY.) Yeah, this is not easy. You may have to make some calls on your lunch hour, calls that won’t be any fun, and it is all depressing and frustrating. Well, you bought into this when you got pregnant, and you fell down on your responsibilities when you let a minor child get pregnant. You asked about your responsibility. We have covered that. But if your daughter is on welfare, she is putting a burden on hardworking people who are NOT to blame for this situation. Maybe your daughter needs to be reminded that these people don’t owe her anything, but now that she has taken welfare money she owes THEM something…..she owes it to the hardworking taxpayers to help locate the father.....and she owes it to herself and her two kids to get an education and a job. Damn, I'm good.