Women, Infants, and Children WIC program

The Women, Infants, and Children program also known as WIC is part of the welfare system.  It is different than the Food Stamp Program in that it targets populations that are low-income and nutritionally at risk.

There are four criteria according to the Food and Nutrition Service Website that must be met to qualify for the WIC benefits. 

1.       Categorical

2.       Residential

3.       Income

4.       Nutritional Risk

With the categorical criteria there are certain rules for women, infants, and children.

Women -- pregnant (during pregnancy and up to 6 weeks after the birth of an infant or the end of the
   pregnancy)
-- postpartum (up to six months after the birth of the infant or the end of the pregnancy)
-- breastfeeding (up to the infant's first birthday)

Infants (up to the infant's first birthday)

Children (up to the child's fifth birthday)

With the residential criteria they must live in the state in which they apply.

With the income criteria with a family of four they cannot make more than $40,000 a year.  They automatically meet the income criteria if they receive or qualify for  one of the following: SNAP program, the TANF program  or Medicaid.

With the nutritional risk criteria according to the website:

“Nutrition risk" means that an individual has medical-based or dietary-based conditions.  Examples of medical-based conditions include anemia (low blood levels), underweight, or history of poor pregnancy outcome.  A dietary-based condition includes, for example, a poor diet.
At a minimum, the applicant's height and weight must be measured and blood work taken to check for anemia.
An applicant must have at least one of the medical or dietary conditions on the State's list of WIC nutrition risk criteria.”

Because they are of low-income many of the women may not be able to buy foods that are nutritionally valuable and then the children are born with a low birth- weight and need nutritionalhelp.  This is the most important criteria because without a nutrition risk then there is no need to apply for the WIC program.  

WIC is an important program that is part of our welfare system.  It helps women, infants, and children with their nutritional needs and also helps the women learn what foods are better for them and their children after they are no longer eligible to receive the aid.  Because of this I believe that all families that qualify for the food stamp program SNAP that have children under age 5 should participate in WIC so that they learn the nutritional value of food and do not go off buying non-nutritional food  for their children as they get older.

Works cited:

Food and Nutrition Service Website: Women, Infants, and Children.

                http://www.fns.usda.gov/wic/