WIC Social Problems

47. The WIC program is a nutritional education component that takes care of people who can’t take care of themselves.

In Lisa Miller’s essay “Divided We eat,” she describes her usual morning breakfast that consists of fancy foods and claims that she is a food snob. She then goes into detail about what her neighbor's routine is like, and what Alexandra Ferguson’s morning routine is like. Food is typically a big issue for these families and the parents will usually spend hours thinking about how they will feed their families. Miller and Ferguson later discuss that some children don’t get enough eat, and some of these children are within five miles of them. Miller then tells us that seventeen percent of Americans are food insecure. The income gap has increased and now more Americans are becoming obese because of this.

For each of these three recommended actions to be implemented into policy, several things need to occur. For the SNAP policy update and increase in funding recommendation, a general consensus among the United States Department of Agriculture needs to be on board that this is a necessary action. The USDA regulates the SNAP program, so they are the primary agency that would update the policies to further enhance eligible food items and restrict purchasing of unhealthy food. They have the resources of dieticians and medical doctors that understand nutrition, and can differentiate between what healthy and unhealthy food products are. They already have restrictions based on eligible food items, but they do not have any restrictions based on the

Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) serves low-income pregnant, expecting and post-partum women, infants, and children up to age 5 who are at nutritional risk. The criteria for receiving services are as follows:

WIC (Women, Infant, and Children) program for pregnant women and for children from newborn to 5 years old. The WIC program is design for a healthy nutrition to help the low income mother by providing a check for all the qualified food. It’s beneficial for pregnant mom and children to eat healthy. WIC food vitamins and minerals that helps a person nutritional needs, especially pregnant mothers and children. WIC program only covers for pregnant women and children up to age 5, if there are health issue WIC program will provide more check for different food that would help depending on what type of health issue a mother with child and the child(ren). Usually, WIC program is different in every state because of different income calculation, for example in North Carolina you have to be a single mother or single mother-to-be will be approve, but married with children; WIC goes by all income in the household and there are certain income range to get approve. They are very strict about income because of the food check given is a lot. This is going to be about a woman with 16 months old child and planning to become pregnant soon, but she is severely anemic.

In Janet Poppendieck's “Want Amid Plenty: From Hunger To Inequality” she argues that America puts excessive focus upon hunger issues among the poor when there are many other important issues that go unnoticed. Poppendieck believes that it is time to find a way to shift the discourse from undernutrition to unfairness, from hunger to inequality. In today's society, there are many food banks, food drives, soup kitchens, etc. Food is extremely abundant in America, therefore Poppendieck's statement is proven true when she states that there is too much focus on hunger. Throughout this text, she strongly supports her claims about hunger, equality, and poverty in general.

Administered by the USDA, the goal of the program is to alleviate hunger and malnutrition for low-income families, adults and seniors. The program is considered one of the largest and most successful solutions in decreasing food insecurity among senior Americans. The USDA pays 100% of all SNAP/Food Stamp benefits to the states that share the administration cost with the federal government. Congress reauthorizes the SNAP program every five years as part of the Farm Bill, the reauthorization determines who is eligible and addresses benefit levels and program accessibility (Fox, Hamilton, & Lin, 2011, p. 30-33). The USDA has implemented a program to create incentive for low-income seniors to purchase more fresh fruits and vegetables using food stamp. The USDA and other state agencies, businesses, nonprofits and the AARP to draw in low-income seniors to eat healthy foods, have supported the program. The program gives increases the number of establishments that accepts food stamp payment by giving dollar for dollar matches for food purchased by eligible seniors. The program labeled as the Seniors Farmers Market Nutrition Program SFMNP also establishes educational programs about good nutrition in area grocery stores and farmer’s markets (USDA, 2015, p.

The Hunger-free kids act is a nutrition program that provides all children with healthy food in school and to low income families. Because of this act schools are playing a larger role in children’s health. Included in this legislation other programs that focus on hunger has come into play such as: Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Woman, Infants and Children (WIC), Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), Summer Food Service Program, After School Meal Program and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education (SNAP-Ed). The programs under the Hunger-free kids act do not have a specific expiration date however,

Jane has two young children, William age four and Sally age two, who will need nutritious food to help with their physical and mental development. One of the food assistance programs is called SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program). Each month the participants receive money on debit card that can be used in most grocery stores. The debit card can usually not be used for items other than food. Another food assistance program is WIC (Women, Infants and Children). This program provides food assistance for pregnant women and children under the age of five. Either of these programs would allow for Jane to purchase the food that her family

To address the issue within the United States, the book Growing Up Empty: The Hunger Epidemic in America dramatically portrays the hunger found in middle- and working-class

I feel there are many strengths to this Supplemental Nutrition Program. For instance, studies show that WIC plays an important role in improving birth outcomes and containing health-care costs. WIC has a positive impact on children’s diets and also provides nutrition and education counseling. WIC also improves infant-feeding practices by actively promoting breastfeeding as the best method of feeding infants. These are just a few of the strengths this program has to offer.

There are programs such as W.I.C. which stands for Woman, Infants, and Children. This group is where mothers that are under the poverty line can get help with the children’s nutrition information. They are also provided with tickets to get nutritious groceries at the store that they and their children may not get otherwise. They also talk about how children learn through play and how keeping your child active is heart healthy and helps prevent childhood

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).

The modern program was established as part of the War on Poverty in the 1960s but has undergone mass changed since then (Edin, 2014). One being that the government gives out electronic debit cards, rather than stamps, for buying food. Since 2008, the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program has become the largest food assistance program in the U.S. It serves greater than 45 million people in the U.S and is a critical safety net program for health and nutrition in the U.S (The History of SNAP, para.

The registered dietician at the WICC department provided lots of education for the clients that I observed. She provided proper nutrition education for their age recommendation based on the MyPlate and food pyramid. She spoke at length with each client about meeting requirements and ways to include certain foods in their diets. She educated the parents on proper weight/height guideline. She provided each parents or client with educational material regarding nutrition guidelines based on age. The pamphlets were based on age starting at 1 year and went through 5 years of age. She also educated the parents of infants on proper nutrition regarding bottle, sippy cup and pacifier use. The appointments were used to give vouchers for purchase