We've all heard the cliche: solo mums on the DPB breed future generations of beneficiaries.
For Northland woman Moana Rankin, spending two decades on the DPB to raise her five children was a necessity.
She finds the solo mum stereotype insulting and rejects the idea that welfare dependency is a lifestyle choice.
"If you put yourself in our position, would you really want to be living like this? Would you really want people going 'You're useless and you've got so many kids'? If you don't live it, you actually don't really know."
Four of Moana Rankin's children and have gone on to tertiary education and her fifth is in his last year at high school.
Three years ago Moana herself went back to university. This she year graduated with a Bachelor of Education and is now working as a primary school teacher while continuing with her studies.
Her eldest son Hakopa Wilkie remembers just how tough it was for his mum to put food on the table, and says he's proud of his mum's accomplishments.
"You hear it left, right and centre from people who know nothing about what it's like to grow up with next to nothing or don't understand that the DPB is only a couple of hundred bucks a week. "
Maori current affairs programme The Hui celebrates mother's day with Moana's story of transformation, which she hopes will silence her critics and inspire others. Sunday 9:25am, TV3.
Newshub.
