Special Supplemental Nutrition Program For Women, Infants, And Children Essay

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) administers food assistance programs that help provide food for low to no income families. It is their goal to increase food security and reduce hunger by increasing access to food, a healthful diet, and nutrition education for low-income Americans (Caswell, 2013, para. 1). Some of the current nutrition assistance programs include “the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC)”(Caswell, 2013, para. 1). SNAP will be the primary nutrition assistance program of the paper at hand. No matter how morally good it is to try to help reduce hunger and increase food security within the United States, there are still many questions regarding issues with SNAP. This paper will be discussing why there is such a strong support for the program, how it helps the United States as a whole, problems with the program, and why some people are against SNAP.

Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) Nutritional Services is a federal program that provides health care and proper nutrition to low income pregnant, postpartum, and breastfeeding women during a crucial time for both mothers and babies. The mission of WIC is to “safeguard the health of low-income women, infants, and children up to age 5 who are at nutrition risk by providing nutritious foods to supplement diets, information on healthy eating, and referrals to health care.” (Food and Nutrition Service, 2010).

Putting food on the table may become a difficult task putting the family at risk for hunger (Martin, 2011).

For most Americans, the word poverty means insufficient access to to housing, clothing and nutritious food that meet their needs for a healthy life. A consequence of poverty is a low socioeconomic status that leads to being exposed to poor nutrition. Since food and dietary choices are influenced by income, poverty and nutrition go hand in hand. There are many important factors that threaten the nutritional status of poor people. The number one factor is not having enough money to buy food of good quality and quantity. Not having enough money can have a profound impact on the diets of low-income people. Limited financial resources may force low income people to make difficult decisions about what kind and how much food to buy. Limited

Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) policy of 1975 establishes various programs to address the issue of malnutrition in Women, Infants, and Children (Khanani, Elam, Hearn, Camille, and Noble, 2010). In an attempt to tackle the problem, the bill established a program to supply foodstuffs to breastfeeding mothers, children under the age of five and food formulae for infants that for medical reasons may not be breastfed (Davis et al., 2014). The program also provides breast pumps and ensures prolonged eligibility for families living below the US poverty line families enjoying other benefits devised for the financially challenged. Two social welfare policies evident in this program include redistribution and social control since the

In the United States, there is a substantial number of children that live below the federal poverty line and even more that live below twice the poverty line (Jackson, 2014). According to Jackson (2014), poverty and food insecurity are undeniably related and these children living below the federal poverty line are at risk for varying negative effects, such as delayed cognitive development and medical problems, that hunger can cause. There is a variety of nutritional policies that help these children as well as adults who live in economically disadvantaged and food-insecure households such as the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) (Jackson, 2014; Marx, Broussard, Hopper, & Worster, 2010). This program

The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Woman, Infants, and Children (WIC) was established in1972. This federally funded program’s primary focus is the nutritional harm that hunger, and poverty creates specifically for mothers, soon-to-be mothers, children and infants (Blau and Abramovitz, 2014). This program has seen an influx of participants over the many years since its existence. Recently, in 2009 WIC underwent major changes that would benefit both mothers and their children. WIC required its participants to buy healthier foods and pushed grocery stores to provide healthier foods for the participants (Block and Subramanian, 2015). Most recipients of WIC are low-income and more than likely live in neighborhoods with food deserts.

The current Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program lacks efficient criteria and proper monitoring of the program, which has led to individuals taking advantage of the system. The current program as it stands needs to be reformed. Individuals are gaining eligibility into the program that are not using the program as intended, but are using it as a crutch. Recipients have been able to purchase items, using the program, which are not essential for survival and can be viewed as a luxury. Also, recipients of food stamps have been able to create an illegal trade where the individuals have been able to use food stamps as a cash currency. Your department needs to address the importance of having stricter criteria, for

1. Migrant and seasonal farm workers may have the poorest health of any aggregate in the United States and the least access to affordable healthcare (Nies, 2011). In Indiana, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) provides food assistance to low and no income people and families living in the United States (U.S.). It is a federal aid program administered by the Food and Nutrition Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), however, distribution of benefits occurs at the state level. In Indiana, the Family and Social Services Administration (FSSA) is responsible for ensuring federal regulations are initially implemented and consistently applied in each county. People can apply for this assistance at their local Division of Family Resources. There are also many places that participate in the emergency food assistance program (TEFAP) and food pantries. In Lake County, Indiana, the largest food pantry is the Food Bank of Northwest Indiana, which is a TEFAP participant and also a soup kitchen. They are open Monday through Friday during the day. There are also food pantries in trustee offices and churches, but some of them are by referral only. In some cases, the community health nurse can make a referral (in.gov, 2014).

Federal nutrition assistance programs, such as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education (SNAP) and the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) Supplemental Nutrition Program, offer a variety of nutrition education for every family member. Families learn how to eat healthier meals and snacks and stretch food dollars. A 2011 survey of SNAP stakeholders found majority support for monetary incentives for fruits and vegetables and restricting soda and other foods of little nutritional value (Blumenthal et al, 2014). These programs help target modifiable risk factors and effectively decrease preventable chronic disease, and therefore disparities. The World Public Health Nutrition Association defines nutrition education as any combination

Having prepared workshops for individuals to implement strategies for all factors that will hinder a person to learn jobs skills needed for the workforce such as; job search strategies, interview preparation, and customer service and other employability skills, along with financial literacy training (Community Action Center, 2016). Other activities such as trainings that teach individuals how to financial manage their income more efficient. Assist programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) could help assist families with low income until they were able to develop job skills that would allow for an increase in their overall income.

The Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) Supplemental Nutrition Program is a Federal grant program which is funded by appropriations law on an annual basis. The number of participants depends on the cost of program operation each year. FNS provides cash grants to WIC State agencies for program nutrition services and administration and for food benefit. The WIC program is offered through your local health department to (Oliveira, Racine, Olmsted, & Ghelfi, 2002).

families (Wehler 2004). I wanted to learn more about how and why hunger affects families; I

Food insecurity is one of the leading public health challenges in the United States today, since millions of people (children and adults) are food insecure because of insufficient money income and other socioeconomic and demographic factors. (Seligman, Kushel, & Laraia, 2010)

The 2015 Statistical Analysis Poverty Level Data report shows in the United States, there was an increase in which families’ are able to provide food per person within their household. After the devastating financial and economic crisis in 2008, families have been in financial detriment for years trying to maintain consistency in providing food, support, and shelter. Not until the government 2015 report, there were clear evidence of a sufficient rise in food surplus in low income families since 2008. According to the governmental statistical report, 14% of households were suffering from food deficiency. In other words, 17.5 million households, approximate one out of every seven homes could not provide nourishment on a regular basis. This estimate is down from the last statistical data recorded in 2011 at 14.9%.