Six hundred baht a month may not seem like a lot to many people, but for a low-income family with the burden of raising a baby, the state welfare payment could tip the balance as to whether or not they can keep their child.
A 17-year-old mother, who preferred to be known only as Kalong, said she was under a lot of stress when she found out she was pregnant. She had at first decided she shouldn't keep the baby but later changed her mind.
She became pregnant to a boyfriend whom she had dated over Facebook for a while before they had unprotected sex. Her parents were outraged at news of her positive pregnancy test and pressured her to have an abortion.
She cried and begged them to allow her to keep the baby, which they eventually did.
She said she "could never commit the sin of terminating her pregnancy" and that her "baby hadn't done anything wrong". However, what she didn't take into account at the time was how she would be able to find enough money to take care of the baby.
Upon learning about the 600 baht state monthly assistance, she was relieved that there was a chance she could manage to survive until she gained enough physical strength to return to work.
Now her baby is over one month old.
Her 57-year-old mother, who wanted to be known only as Khampan, admitted she felt guilty she had taken her daughter to an abortion clinic against her will.
Khampan at the time wanted Kalong to be able to go back to school for her own future as her boyfriend had refused to take any responsibility for the baby.
She said she backed down on the abortion idea when the daughter firmly insisted on her stance to keep the baby.
The mother, too, was afraid her daughter's life could be in danger if she underwent an abortion operation, and spoke of the pity she would have felt for the baby if it was to die.
With the addition of Kalong's baby, the family now has a total of seven grandchildren to take care of. The others were born to three unemployed daughters. They left their children with their parents.
The only family member who works is Kalong's father who trades used plastic bottles, paper and aluminium, a job that doesn't bring in much money.
Only two out of the seven grandchildren are eligible to receive the 600 baht monthly allowance. The money is granted to children born to poor families, from birth to three years old.
The family will soon receive 1,200 baht a month which will help feed several mouths in the family, Kalong said.
Ms Khampan now plans to supplement the family's income by helping a friend sorting used plastic bottles, paper and aluminium near her home. She expects to earn between 100 baht and 200 baht a day.
"Six hundred baht may be not much to other people, but for us it means a lot," she said.
Noi (not her real name), 25, another mother who receives the 600 baht per month allowance for raising her child, said as she has to take care of the baby, her husband was the only one in the family who works to support the family.
She went back to work one month after giving birth to the child but ended up injuring herself and suffered serious back pain doctors said was caused by overwork.
She now cannot even hold the baby by herself while still undergoing regular physical therapy. She can walk again but is unable to lift anything heavy. She has to seek daycare assistance five days a week from Ban Seu Yai foundation for infants, also known as the Foundation for Slum Child Care.
With the baby receiving care at the foundation's daycare facility, she could cut a lot of the costs of nappies and baby formulae.
She insisted the child support allowance is only spent on her child and she keeps records of how the money is spent.
Jiap, 31, another mother who receives the child support money from the government, said only one out of her two daughters is entitled to receive the allowance because the eldest, 7, is too old.
She now stays at home taking care of the youngest daughter while her husband goes out to work. Jiap tries to help supplement the family's income by helping her parents sort plastic, copper and aluminium scraps at home.
Phen, a 32-year-old mother, said she had learnt about the monthly child support allowance from the Foundation for Slum Child Care but she wasn't convinced the scheme was for real.
Despite her worries the programme could be a scam, she decided to go ahead with it. The Lat Phrao district office then said her child could receive the allowance.