It will induce those who could do for themselves to let someone else do for them. But large federal programs, whatever their benefits, can't undo parental failure. Nor can they offset the ill effects of family breakdown. To think otherwise sanctions the behaviors that put children at risk. Marriage loses its social value.
Young men can father and abandon children.
Mothers and fathers can easily leave troubled marriages. Americans once embraced a moral code that had strong taboos against these behaviors. Though often violated, the taboos imposed useful restraints. Perhaps we need old morality more than new investment.