The reality of the situation is that the court will be happier to see you on the street, rather than your 3 children.
If you dropped out of high school and then started fathering children that you now can't support, and are having a hard time finding work in this miserable job market, it's HIGHLY unlikely understanding will be forthcoming from the court. If you plan to claim to the court that part of your financial situation is a product of dropping out (a choice), then in the same breath, you'd better ALSO show the court that you're in the process of GETTING yourself an education that will allow you to seek better jobs on behalf of your children. If you're not already enrolled in an adult high school program, you need to get yourself INTO one, like yesterday. Check with your local community college - most of them are VERY helpful in getting you enrolled, knowing what jobs are in demand in your area and helping develop a curriculim to get you one of those jobs, and they may even have financial aid available (and, more and more of them have online programs, so you can job hunt during the day, and do your class work in the evenings and on weekends).

