This is such a bad situation for your children. You may want to temporarily have a change the two of you can agree on. I assume you are working? Could he come to your home for a few hours a day and maybe increase the number of days he sees them? Would you trust him to do this? Let him know this would only be temporary until he once again gets on his feet. I agree that the children need their father as well. I think it would be all in how you go about saying it to him. Let him know your concerned about his situation and welling to help work it out for him to still see his children. Let him know you realize he is going to have to have time to look for work which you understand is a real priority for him right now. I could not stand the conditions in which these kids are being cared for by whoever. Just try and get him on board to come up with a better solution to this. He really needs parenting classes!!!!! It sounds like he really loves the kids but he is a kid himself still.