The excerpt you cite concerns couples who choose to not marry in the first place, not people already married considering a divorce. In your example, the man brings 20000$ a year more to the household + 5500$ a year of welfare for the mother = 25500$.
This is much more than the 11000$ a year the mother would get on her own. I hardly see how this example makes any sense
And you completely overlooked the beginning of the paragraph, regarding food stamps
Scenario A (Mom+ 2 kids): 15k + 5.2k(FS benefits) -> 20.2k for mom on her own, plus whatever unmarried dad provides on the side. I can tell you as someone with kids if mom doesn't work, the cost of children go to damn near zero especially if mom can garden and willing to find free entertainment for children.
Scenario B (Mom + Dad + 2 kids): 30k + 0(FS benefits) -> 15k/adult.
>This is much more than the 11000$ a year the mother would get on her own. I hardly see how this example makes any sense
Only if you consider section 8 benefits in a vacuum and not the other massive difference in benefits between one mom with no income and a a family with a working father making 20k, such as aforementioned foodstamps.
I'm not aware of any distinction made between having been previously married vs never married in these section 8 or foodstamp benefits
