Only 10 percent of all welfare families have more than three.

But his proposal would encourage other welfare families to stay together while getting help.

"I'm on my third generation of welfare families since 1967," he said.

"This is really a great day for welfare families in Massachusetts."

Legislation alone cannot move four million welfare families into the work force.

But how many of the nation's five million welfare families will be able to make the transition to private jobs?

A small decrease in benefits for a welfare family makes a difference.

Only about 5 percent of the nation's three million welfare families report a father in the home.

An estimated 5 percent of welfare families have two parents.

When the city needed a place to send welfare families and the homeless, he took them too.