child hunger essay'

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Kansas State University *

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110

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Health Science

Date

Jun 3, 2024

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docx

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Uploaded by sandra_1996

When people think of child hunger, most would not know that this is a common issue in America. Many people would assume that the government is able to assist everyone with the tools they need in order to avoid food insecurity. And while this may be true to some extent, it’s up to the public themselves to take the steps to receive the adequate help. Some parents might not have the time to seek out help, so, in turn we have kids suffering from hunger. In fact, child hunger is a problem that affected 1 in every 8 kids in 2021 (Feeding America, 2021). Due to rising cost of living and inflation, parents have been forced to work long hours and resort to feeding kids foods that lack nutritional value. Kids are relying on the food that they are given during school hours, but it’s been proven that sometimes the breakfast and lunch servings are not enough. Hunger can have negative long-term effects on a kid’s health, so it’s important to discuss steps and preventative measures to stop child hunger. There are steps that we as a society can take in order to ensure that no kid goes hungry. Providing a child with a healthy diet is important in their development growing up. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, a healthy diet has many benefits for a child, including strengthening bone muscle, supporting healthy brain development, maintaining a healthy weight, and many more benefits (CDC 2022). It also helps to promote a healthy relationship with food and prevents kids from suffering from food insecurity. Parents and guardians have a responsibility to their children, to make sure they are safe and secure in their house. It’s hard to protect kids from the harsh realities of the world but doing our best to keep them healthy within our homes is a top priority. To lessen the stress on adults, the governments has a lot of assistance put in place. Unfortunately, for a lot of adults, the process to apply for assistance can be a lengthy and complicated process.

The purpose of this research paper is to discuss the factors that can cause child hunger and the negative impact it can have on a child’s physical and mental health. I show evidence that provides explanation as to why parents might not be to incline to get help. I will also talk about recourses that may encourage parents to get the help they need to make sure their kids don’t go hungry. Then I will talk about how school’s play a vital role in providing students with nutritious foods and why some kids are struggling to thrive in school due to low funding in the lunch programs. Finally, I end up pointing out the negative impacts hunger has on a child’s health. SNAP and WIC In the U.S.A, the largest program created to address food insecurity is the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program or otherwise commonly known as SNAP (Radcliff, E, et al 2018). SNAP provides nutritional support for low-paid working families, low-income older adults, and people with disabilities in the form of an electronic system known as electronic benefits transfer or EBT. Based on your household size and income, one is given a set amount of money on a card which is then able to be used at the grocery store to purchase any food they need, with the exceptions of foods that already come hot and prepared. Another program that is available for a specific part of the population is the Women, Infant and Children program, otherwise known as WIC. The WIC program offers nutrition education, formula, fruit and vegetables, and other food to pregnant and postpartum women and their children until they reach the age of five (Davis, R et al 2022). According to the United States Department of Agriculture “ WIC served about 6.2 million participants each month in fiscal year 2021, including an estimated 43 percent of all infants in the United States.” (U.S.D.A 2022).

Barriers of SNAP and WIC The process to apply for SNAP requires an application to be filled out, either online or in person, and a person must submit multiple papers, including income, expenses, immigration status… While this may sound like an easy process, that’s not the case for everyone. Radcliff et al (2018) stated the following: A range of barriers may exist to the uptake of SNAP benefits among eligible individuals, including a lack of understanding about eligibility requirements, lack of time to apply among the working poor, or an application site inaccessible by public transportation (Kaye, Lee, & Chen, 2013). Linguistic barriers, cultural stigma, or a refusal to accept government services can also be barriers to SNAP uptake (USDA, FNS, 2011). In addition, SNAP services may be used differentially across demographic characteristics. For example, black and Hispanic families are more likely than white families to receive SNAP benefits (Cheng & Tang, 2016); individuals without a high school diploma are more likely than those with a high school diploma to receive SNAP benefits (Algert, Reibel, & Renvall, 2006; Grieger & Danziger, 2011; Purtell et al., 2012); and unemployed individuals are more likely than employed individuals to receive SNAP benefits” WIC also requires similar paperwork to be submitted and it can be even harder for pregnant women or mothers with younger children to take time out of their day to enroll into the program. WIC takes into account the people who live in your household, even if those people aren’t helping you financially. A lot of women who may be experiencing relationship issues but continue to live with the other parent might not qualify for WIC, even if the other person is not helping them financially, because of the fact that they live together.

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